Anchor
by annavale23
Summary: "Never turn your back on your enemy. You taught me that." Those words haunt Grant Ward's every moment, ever since the love of his life shot him. Agent 33 and him are on the run, & Grant's trying to put any emotion he felt for Skye away. But when she comes searching for him for help, will he be able to deny her? (Ward/Kara brotp, Skyeward romance). Now an AU after 2x10. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1: No Purpose Without Them

**Hey, guys! After watching 2x10 of S.H.I.E.L.D, I couldn't help it. I had to write a fic on what happens next. Speculation only, and of course it's Skyeward (eventually). In this first Chapter, we have what happened after Ward and Agent 33 escaped from Puerto Rico, after Ward was shot by Skye. Sorry if I got anything wrong! (In the story, with placing of the wounds, or how you treat wounds. I'm not a doctor!)**

**Anything I write on Agent 33 will be my own headcanon, so in a way, she's an OC, since how she acts in the show will be changed slightly to fit this fic. **

**Anyway, this starts off as a Agent 33/Ward brotp (with absolutely _no_ romantic interest between them) and then later moves on to Skye/Ward. (Which will be so romantic, I hope!)**

**This will probably update weekly, or every 5 or 6 days. **

**Enjoy! And please tell me what you thought in a review!**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE: NO PURPOSE WITHOUT _THEM_.**

_**Grant**_

We drive out into the mountains, her at the wheel, me in the passenger seat. I press a hand to my chest gently, grimacing as I shift slightly, my wounds protesting. I'm in no condition to drive, not since _she_ shot me.

Skye.

She shot me, just as I taught her. But I had to hand it to her, shooting me so mercilessly...I almost saw a piece of me in her. (But it was all wrong on her, the once gentle hacker girl).

But enough about her. I'm not going to waste my time thinking about her anymore. Skye showed me quite brutally where her loyalties lay. And they were _definitely_ not with me. (The bullets currently lodged in my chest showed that).

"Stop thinking about her, Agent Ward." Her voice is soft, tinged with a electric static. I glance at my travel companion, Agent 33, the May look alike. She sits in the driver seat, her scarred face strangely not terrifying. Maybe because I've seen worse things. Or maybe because I am a worse thing.

"How could you tell?" I ask her, my chest hurting. Getting shot hurts like a bitch, but getting shot by the girl you love hurts worse. Because that shows you that she really, really didn't love you back.

"She shot you, Ward. So stop this silly delusion of loving her, and concentrate on surviving." 33 replies, choosing not to reply to my previous comment.

"Sure, 'cause it's that easy." I mutter sarcastically, but she ignores me, her fingers gripping the wheel tightly until her knuckles turn white from the strain.

I don't even know who this woman with Melinda May's face is. I don't even know her real name! When we were at S.H.I.E.L.D, I never met Agent 33, and while I was working for Whitehall, I never asked. Yet without her, I'll die. And she knows that without me, she'll have no purpose. Not now that her master, Daniel Whitehall, is dead. And she'll die without purpose. So I guess we're in an agreement of convenience.

I close my eyes, trying to push the pain down as Agent 33 keeps driving on into the mountains in hope of a safe place to stay.

.

* * *

.

"Stay still!" 33 commands as she lifts my shirt off over my head to check my wounds. I hiss in pain, but she ignores me, balling my shirt up and tossing it to one end of the bed. We found a decent sized abandoned cabin here in the mountain, and 33 decided that this would be the best place to stay until I'm better. (Although none of us have any idea of how long that might be. Neither of us have any medical training, except for the basics, really). 33 inspects my wounds before running into the bathroom, coming back with a wet washcloth. She sits back down next to me, tying her hair up with a Hello Kitty decorated scrunchie we picked up in the Walmart we passed on our way here, among with some medical supplies, food and water. Luckily she had some cash on her, tucked away into the lining of her jacket.

"Now, I'm going to wash the bullet wounds, check if the bullets are still in there." She cautions. "It might hurt."

"I can deal with pain." I inform her, closing my eyes as she leans over me and tentatively starts to dab at the skin surrounding the four bullet shots, cleaning it up enough to see the actually wounds. It hurts, but I ignore the pain. Well, actually, I relish it. Somehow, it helps me to think clearly, maybe for the first time in years. It was so stupid of me to trust Skye. To think that she might actually love me back one day.

_Well, I'm done with her_. I think, as 33 finishes up cleaning my wounds. _I'm so done with her._ She tilts me on my side to check on the back of my body, to see if Skye's bullets penetrated all the way through. I grimace in pain. She pushes me back down gently, and I swallow drily.

33 rubs her hands together. She swings one leg over my waist, sitting lightly on my stomach. I raise an eyebrow questioningly even as my shoulder burns.

"I have to get two of the bullets out." She explains. "The other two went all the way through. Okay?"

I nod, gritting my teeth, preparing for the pain that's sure to follow. Agent 33 doesn't hesitate, just leaning forward, her hair tips tickling me lightly, and shoving her index and middle fingers into my open wounds, digging away for the bullets lodged there. I try to ignore the squelching sound my raw flesh makes (this isn't the first time people have had to remove bullets from my body without being in a hospital or lab) as 33 pulls out the first bullet triumphantly, her fingers stained with blood. (My blood looks like anyone else's, I see. You can't tell I'm broken from my blood, it seems). She drops it down on to the bed grimly and prepares to extract the next one.

.

* * *

.

Two days later, and 33's helping me into my shirt, which she's rinsed out as best she could from all the blood. I wince slightly as I move my left shoulder, but I don't comment in it. Neither does 33. My wound is covered up with sterile wrappings, but my wound keeps bleeding through. Our solution? A_ lot_ more gauze.

"What do we do next?" She asks me, her voice ringing out with a metallic edge that grates on my ears. I stare at her incredulously. Is she asking _me_ for orders? Then again, she did just lose the guy she was desperate to please, due to her brainwashing. Maybe she just wants someone, anyone, to save her. Just like I did after Garrett died. No one helped me. But maybe I can help her.

"First off, we need to get some supplies." I tell her, although I'm uncomfortable with the role I've been forced into. Who will give me my purpose? But I don't think about my own worries. _Compartmentalise, Ward_. I tell myself. _Concentrate on her. Not you._ "I've got some supply lockers still. All we need is a map."

"We've got one." 33 looks happy to reply, maybe relishing the lack of control she has over her own actions. "In the car."

"Okay." I nod, touching my chest subconsciously. The bullet wounds are still fresh, and I hiss slightly in pain as I press too hard. Got to watch that, Ward. "We'll coordinate our next moves around that. We'll be safe for awhile, before Coulson tries to find us."

"He killed Whitehall." 33 mumbles. I make a note to avoid using Coulson's name, lest it be a trigger for her. I need 33 to be in control, because right now, I'm defenceless without her.

"Yeah." I acknowledge slowly. "But how about we stop thinking about those two, yeah?"

"Okay." 33 agrees. "Perhaps it would be better to stop thinking about them. If you agree to stop thinking about that girl." She pierced me with a look that reminds me of May.

"Agreed." I hold out a hand for her to shake, which she does hesitantly. "We stop thinking about those three."

"I'll get the map." She skips out of the room, looking at peace now that she's got purpose. I stare after her, missing the days when I knew what to do. And if I didn't, I always knew that Garrett was just a phone call away.

But then he turned legitimately insane.

My loyalty once belonged to him. The man who claimed to give me a home, when really all it meant was serving him, his desires, without question.

Then to her...Skye, the only light in my darkness. The girl I loved, and the girl who shot me as soon as I turned away from her.

And now...it belongs to no one but myself. Which is a frightening prospect. I swallow nervously.

_Okay, Grant Ward_. I tell myself firmly. _Your mission is to make sure that Agent 33 stays sane and doesn't try and kill you. Because you need allies, and she's the only one willing to help you. She's the only one who might understand what it's like to see your master die._ Brainwashed or not, anyway you put it, Agent 33 and I are the same. Both pathetic dogs, lost without an owner.

.

* * *

.

We plot a route out on the map, drawing a crude line with a pencil she found in the car. 33 points out that we're going to have to careful.

"What if they find us?" It doesn't take a genius to understand she's talking about S.H.I.E.L.D. Instead of answering, I go on with the plan.

"Here's the plan." I tell her. "I'll walk in, get the supplies, get to the car, we'll drive to the nearest mall and pick up more essentials."

"Got it." 33 nods. "Seems simple."

"And if we run into _anyone_..." I emphasize _anyone_ so she'll understand I mean the ones who will not be named.

"What do we do, Ward?" She asks quietly. "Fight? Or run?"

"Run." I decide firmly. "Run as fast as you can, in the opposite direction. Do not engage them, not even if they engage you. Just get out of there and run, okay?"

"Understood." She nods.

.

* * *

.

Our supply run goes off without incident. I slip in and out of the train station, picking up the backpack loaded with money, weapons and passports. We bring it back to our cabin in the mountains, after refilling our car and buying a few clothing items and canned food. I sort out the supplies on the bed, having changed into a fresh shirt and jeans. The clean clothes are a blessing after what I've been forced to wear recently. Under my shirt, my wound is covered in gauze and bandages, and hasn't leaked for the first time in days.

33 prises open a can of fruit salad with a fork expertly and starts to stab at the fruit with the fork, eating it delicately. She licks up the juices enthusiastically, her eyes briefly closing as she savours the crisp fruity taste.

"So, what's our next move, Ward?" She asks, chewing on a melon slice. She swallows it visibly, licking the fork clean.

"Well, we need to keep moving, so maybe a safe house?" I suggest. 33 sighs.

"I have...an idea." She suggests tentatively. I look at her, immediately realising that she feels uncertain about if she's allows to voice her opinion. I try to smile reassuringly. (She reminds me of what I might have become, if someone had tried to save me from my hell, like I'm doing with 33).

"What is it?" I ask her, keeping my voice light. It's a lot of hard work, helping 33, but it keeps me from worrying about my own problems. And anyway, it's almost like my own personal form of redemption. But not for anyone else. Just for my own benefit. (Definitely not for you anymore Skye).

"Maybe if we get a good safe house, positioned in a key city, and make that our base?" She says, biting her bottom lip nervously. "Use it as a base of operations, for a few months."

"That...might actually work." I say slowly. "I could recover from my injury until we think of what we want to do next."

33 smiles brightly, pleased I liked her idea. But then her face falls suddenly, crumpling in on itself.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, concerned. (See, I'm not a _complete_ robot, Skye!).

"My face." She whispers. "I can't go anywhere with my face." Her finger tips tip toe over the scarred flesh quietly. "They were all looking at me today, and I had a hood on. But they could see." She swallows, her disgust at her appearance clear for anyone to see.

Impulsively, I lean over to her and pull her hair out of the ponytail. 33 blinks at me surprised as I flip some of her hair over the right side of her face, hiding her scar.

"We'll trim this piece of hair into a side fringe." I tell her. "If you wear your hair like this, people will just think it's a hair style. Plus, there's always sunglasses." I tease. 33 exhales gently, her fingers still on her scar, now covered by a hunk of her black hair.

"Thank you, Ward." She says softly. "Thanks."

"No problem." I shift, awkwardly. "We'll leave in the morning, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

**What did you think? Did I do it good? Please tell in a review!**

**(Also, if you care, the cover photo of this is the HYDRA logo is blurred out in some places, as it's lost a bit of power, and SHIELD is rising up again. I made it myself!)**


	2. Chapter 2: Communication Is Difficult

**Hey, guys! I am simply blown away with the response from the first chapter! I'm so happy that you guys are liking it so far.**

**Thank you so, _so_ much for all the reviews, favourites and follows! :)**

**I hope you like this chapter as well.**

**Please review!**

* * *

_**Grant**_

"So which safe house will we be using?" Agent 33 asks me. I glance at her as I continue to pack up our meagre possessions. Her hair, while still jet black like May's, is cut roughly to form a side fringe to cover her scarred face, the rest of her hair tied up in the hello kitty scrunchie she's strangely fond of. For a former HYDRA agent, albeit a brainwashed one, she isn't half attached to a scrunchie decorated with a frolicking Japanese kitty cat. I pull down the edge of my shirt, seeing my bandages are still white. My wounds are healing then. That's reassuring.

"Well, I was thinking either D.C. or California?" I suggest. 33 shoots me a withering look. She's become a lot more confident in these last few days.

"Not California." She says firmly. "Firstly, it's too far away, and secondly, I'll get too hot with my hair in my face."

"So D.C?" I confirm, handing her the bag, since we're advising for me to rest, so I can recover without damaging my body further. 33 lifts the bag easily onto her shoulder.

"Let's go." She says as her answer, walking out of the room. I follow her quickly, and we get into our car.

Although I know it's risky to keep with a stolen car, I have a feeling that Coulson won't be chasing us just yet. I think that something must of happened in the underground city. So I think we'll be fine, at least until we're half way to D.C.

* * *

In the car, 33 drives with ease, her hands still tight in the wheel though, as if it's going to slip out of her grip. I lean back in my seat, my chest throbbing. I adjust my position slightly, my mind flashing back to that moment where Skye fired on me.

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

_Grant stumbled backwards, hitting the floor hard, as he stared at the woman he once called his Rookie in shock. He glances down to his chest and saw his shirt was turning red. He couldn't understand why, though. What had happened?_

_Grant's eyes flick back up to Skye and that's when he sees it._

_The gun._

**_In._**

**_Her._**

**_Hands._**

_"Never turn your back on your enemy." She tells him, her voice hard and uncaring. "You taught me that, remember?" She steps over his body and hurries away._

_Grant blinks, unable to do anything as his brain attempts to process the pain he should be feeling._

_What has Skye turned into? He wonders, just before his eyes start to close. Just for a brief nap._

"Ward." 33's voice cuts through the thick cloud of my thoughts. "Are you okay? Your injury hurting you?"

"Not that much." I lie easily. Unfortunately, 33's good at picking up on liars. She was S.H.I.E.L.D, after all. She raises her one visible eyebrow.

"We'll pick up some Tylenol at the next town we pass through." She says. "Because I doubt they'll give us stronger pain killers."

"I don't take strong pain killers anyway." I answer, leaning my head back.

"Not even if you're in a lot of pain?" 33 asks me, surprised.

"I don't like them." I explain. "They make me...compromised. I can't keep my thoughts in check when I'm doped up."

"Still, that's a lot of pain you'll endure." 33 points out. "Was it worth it? Avoiding painkillers even though you needed them?"

"People called me a legend back at S.H.I.E.L.D for my pain tolerance." I shrug with one shoulder, casually dodging her question.

"You didn't answer my question." She says quietly, her eyes fixed on the road in front of her. She's clever. I half smile to myself. Very clever.

"Nothing's ever worth it." I reply in a quite voice. "Not unless you win."

"Who taught you that?" 33 asks quietly.

"What?"

"That sounds like a phrase that you've learnt, parroted back." 33 explains. "So who taught you that?"

"John Garrett." The name comes unbidden from my lips, surprising me. 33 remains silent as I sigh.

"He basically taught me everything I know." I elaborate, although she didn't ask me too. The words have started flowing, and I can't seem to stop them.

"He died." It's a statement, not a question, from 33. I nod.

"He was crazy at the end. Whatever he turned I to...that wasn't John and I don't think he was meant to survive." I swallow, remembering what Garrett was at the end. A mad man claiming to be able to see everything. To understand the reason why, the why behind everything.

He needed to die, because that was not the man I knew. That was something entirely different, and creepy.

33 realises that I probably don't want to discuss Garrett anymore than she wants to discuss Whitehall, so she shuts up and concentrates on her driving.

* * *

The safe house is cold and empty, but it's perfect for us to live in. 33 makes us dinner - barely cooked pasta, because it seems cooking is not her strong suit - and half forces the Tylenol down my throat. To be honest, the only reason I take it is because she reminds me of May. Bit because she looks like May (well, she does, but that's not why), but because of how she acts, when she's not feeling vulnerable. Strong, like May. Only difference is with 33, I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not. All I am to her is the person who keeps her grounded, while I float aimlessly through life, having no idea what or who I am.

33 and I part ways once we've finished eating, each of us going to our separate rooms. I sit down heavily on mine, a hand drifting my my wound.

_The first thing I ever let myself want, and she shoots me. Typical._ I think to myself bitterly. _Just like always. Everything I want to protect ends up trying to get rid of me._

I lie down, my head hitting the pillow as I try to get some sleep.

* * *

But as usual, sleep does not come easily. I've always had trouble sleeping, ever since I can remember. At first, it was the constant fear of Christian: who knew when he could choose to walk in my room, ready to torment me? Then it was the woods, because there was always one more job that had to be done for Garrett. Next it was being a specialist. A full night's sleep was a rare gift, one I rarely got - or asked for. Sleep was a privilege Garrett had told me I didn't deserve, so I learnt how to battle on regardless of my tiredness.

And lastly...it was Skye.

Not in a sexual way, but because I loved her, and it confused me. I'd been living a cover for so long, and before that the nicer emotions of human beings were rarely shown to me, so it took Lorelei to show me what I was feeling.

I loved Skye.

Clearly, she did not feel the same way.

* * *

That night, 33 has a nightmare. I sit with her and help her through it. She screams and thrashes, until her throat goes hoarse, the wetness of tears coating her face. Her breathing is uneven, and she buries her head into my neck, her fingers grasping at my shirt in an iron grip.

"I don't want to comply." She whispers in a broken voice. "What do I do? What do I do?" 33 repeats again and again, until I tell her to stop. I get her to look into my eyes.

"I'm not going to make you comply." I tell her in a gentle yet firm voice. "Tomorrow, you will get up and you will be fine."

"Promise?" Her tear filled eyes stare into mine, pleading with me. I try to smile.

"Promise."

She calms down finally and falls asleep in my lap.

I stare impassively into the night.

No one ever helps me.

"I don't know who I am." 33 tells me in a clam voice as we clean out the weapons we acquired. AKA, stole.

I glance up to look at her.

"What?" I ask, growing slightly. 33 and I have been together for a while now, and I've grown a little more used to the fact I'm her anchor. That she needs me to create her a purpose in life. And in return, not that she realises that this is what she's doing, she makes me concentrate on only her. Not Skye.

"I don't know who I am." She repeats. "My face isn't my face, and I can't remember who I was before. So who am I?"

I ponder that for a moment.

"What's your name?" I ask her. 33 gives me a confused look. "Your name. I can't keep calling you 'Agent 33', can I?" I try to inject a little humour into my tone. It fails dramatically, but it does manage to get a small smile out of 33. She reties her hair with that damn scrunchie, her fringe hanging low over her scar.

"Kara." 33 replies eventually. "My name's Kara."

"Hello, Kara. I'm Grant." I hold out a hand. Kara shakes it tentatively, as if wondering if she should shake her anchor's hand since she considers me her superior. "And for who you are, let me enlighten you." I get her to look me in the eyes again. "You are Kara. A Hello Kitty fanatic."

That earns a little splutter of laughter out of her. I smile slightly, glad that I can help her recover.

And a small, pitiful part of me wonders how I might have turned out if someone had taken the time to do this with me.

* * *

"I am loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D." Kara says to me a few days later. We're still based at the safe house, but currently we're grocery shopping. I push the trolley around, leaning on it heavily as I try not to show the discomfort from my wounds. Thanks a lot, Skye.

"That's good." I tell her, chucking some pretzels in the trolley. Kara's a sucker for pretzels as well as that damn cat, it seems. Already, we have one stuffed pillow emblazoned with Hello Kitty in the trolley...and about 5 others at the house. "What made you come to that decision?" I ask her carefully. I've learnt that is how you navigate risky topics with Kara: you have to phrase your question carefully, or she'll implode.

"I remember being loyal to them." She shrugs. "And you tell me that they're the good guys. That's who I am. Kara, Hello Kitty fanatic, a terrible cook and loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D." She recites, as she does nearly every day. It's her way of confirming to herself who she really is. I'm glad to see her list is growing.

"Who are you, Grant?" Kara asks, May's face that is strangely also hers glancing at me. My heart sinks. This question she asks everyday. Her way of trying to help me, I think. But I can never really answer, because I don't even know who the real Grant Ward is anymore.

"I'm Grant Ward. Traitor, murderer, and Kara's anchor." I shrug, telling her what I always do: the truth.


	3. Chapter 3: Anchoring Her, Sinking Me

**Howdy! Here's the next chapter, which is unfortunately a lot shorter than the previous two. But I hope you enjoy it anyway! **

**About Ward and Kara's relationship: although it can read as romanticised, they are both merely helping the other recover after Whitehall and Garrett. **

**Thanks so much for the reviews, follows and favourites so far! :)**

**Enjoy, and please leave me a review at the end.**

* * *

**Chapter Three: Anchoring Her, Sinking Me**

_**Grant**_

Kara screams out in her sleep again.

I help her through it.

I hold her still as she struggles, yelling that she doesn't want to comply.

I brush her hair away from her sweaty face as she sobs.

I watch over her until she falls back to sleep.

I anchor her to the ground.

But I'm sinking right into the ocean.

.

* * *

"Never turn your back on your enemy. You taught me that."

.

* * *

Kara laughs more now, I've noticed.

But she still keeps the scar on her face covered up.

.

* * *

Kara and I clear myself for combat. Just not to strenuous.

I tear the wounds back open within hours of that decision.

Not because I want to.

But because HYDRA attack us. A small renegade group tries to kidnap Kara.

We move from the D.C. safe house immediately.

Kara spends the plane journey crying silently as she squeezes her favourite Hello Kitty pillow.

.

* * *

We go to L.A.

Where I first met her.

I can't say her name anymore.

.

* * *

"Grant?" Kara's voice reaches me through my stupor. I groan, my head pounding like I'm hungover. But I can't be, since I haven't had a drink for god knows how long. Maybe before I met Kara?

"Kara." I croak, my throat sore. I cough, the noise rattling on my chest. Talking hurts, like I'm putting my throat on a razor sharp spinning blade.

"You're sick." She informs me.

"No I'm not. I don't get sick." I argue back, my tone insisting.

"You are." Kara raises both eyebrows at me, as if disbelieving that I would claim to be well when I probably look ill right now. My head is thumping, my chest aches and my throat is like sandpaper. I feel terrible.

"Not." I mumble as Kara helps me into a more comfortable position. I feel like shit. Actual shit.

"Grant, let me help you." Her big eyes gaze into mine calmly. "Let me be your anchor for a while."

.

* * *

"Never turn your back on your enemy. You taught me that."

She walks out if the room, stepping over my fallen body. I'm powerless to do anything but watch her walk away from me.

.

* * *

"Take the Tylenol, Grant." Kara instructs me.

"Mmmm." I try to talk, but my jaw hurts too much. My head hurts. My whole body hurts.

"Take the Tylenol." She insists.

I make a strangled noise in my throat. Kara leans in close, trying to hear what I'm saying.

"Skye." I murmur. "Skye."

"She's not here, Grant." Kara tells me patiently. "Remember?"

"Skye." I mutter again, and then Kara shoves the Tylenol down my throat.

.

* * *

"Thank you." I tell her a few days later, when I'm better. Kara's checking on my wounds, which are stitched up from when I tore them. We went to a hospital, and then snuck out without paying.

The skin surrounding the wounds is stretched tight and pink, and could be easily broken again. I should probably take it easy from now on.

"You're welcome." Kara replies, tucking her fringe behind one ear.

"Want me to buy you a new Hello Kitty keyring?" I offer, my tone slightly teasing. Kara punches my good shoulder lightly.

"You're buying me two." She informs me. "You were like a huge baby when you were ill." Kara pauses. "You said her name, Grant."

"Whose name?" I ask her, frowning confusedly.

"Skye's." Her voice is quiet, her eyes fixed on my recovering injury.

"Oh."

.

* * *

"Are you over her?" Kara wants to know as I attempt to teach her some recipes that won't taste too bad, even with her cooking.

I consider my answer.

"No." I say finally.

.

* * *

Kara decides what she wants to do.

"I want to take down HYDRA." She tells me one day.

"Okay." I agree. "We'll take down HYDRA, as soon as I'm healed up."

"That sound like a plan." She smiles.

.

* * *

"Who are you?" I ask her.

"Kara Lynn Palamas." She answers immediately. "Hello Kitty fanatic, terrible cook, a loyal agent of S.H.I.E.L.D and hater of HYDRA."

"Good." I try to smile at her. Slowly but surely, Kara's remembering who she is, and what she wants to do. That's a positive thing, I think.

"Who are you, Grant?" She asks me back.

"Grant Douglas Ward. Traitor, murderer and Kara's anchor."

.

My answer still hasn't changed.

I don't think it will ever change.

* * *

**Thoughts?**


	4. Chapter 4: Understanding The Message

**You guys are blowing me away with your support! Seriously, thank you so much!**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as the last 3. If you did, leave me a review?**

* * *

_**Grant**_

_"So, Robot." Skye starts conversationally as she stands next the punch bag, ready for training. "Do you ever smile?"_

_"We're here to train, Skye." I sigh, exasperatedly. "Not to discuss my facial expressions."_

_"Can't we do both?" She argues back, the smile on her lips indicating she's being humourous. She knows my stance on talking during training. It's a distraction. And I dislike distractions._

_"Fine, I get it. Just training." She nods, brushing a lock of her hair out of her face before she starts to punch the punch bag. She looks so beautiful, but I'm not allowed to think these thoughts. Because I'm her SO. Because my only priority is John. Not some hactivist._

* * *

"We're being followed." Kara tells me as we walk down the crowded streets of D.C. We're here investigating a possible link to a HYDRA base, for Kara.

"You think I don't know?" I frown at her. Kara shrugs, the corner of her lips twitching up into a smile. She combs her fingers through her hair nervously, she smooths her fringe down over her face.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Kara wants to know. We keep walking at a moderate pace, but I start to move away from the street.

"Is it HYDRA?" She asks next.

"No." I reply as we slowly meander into an alley where we can deal with our follower discreetly. "It's SHIELD."

.

When I judge that we're far enough into the alley, I turn around.

Skye stands there.

I blink. Am I hallucinating? Or is Skye really standing there? She's dressed casually but I can still see the bulge of a gun underneath her jacket.

My eyes harden.

"What do you want?" Kara asks her in a level voice, judging correctly that seeing Skye's made me nervous.

"Relax, Agent 33." Skye's mouth attempts to smile, but it kind of looks mangled and out of place. "I'm not here to attack you. I just want to talk."

"Right." Kara's voice is practically dripping with sarcasm.

"Kara." I say quietly, placing a hand in between her shoulder blades. She glances up, her uncovered eye looking confused. "Let me talk to her."

"Grant." She warns me. "You're not ready."

"Kara." I smile at her. "I'll be fine, okay."

Skye watches our exchange with guarded eyes, and I wonder what she's doing here. What does she want? My bullet wounds itch slightly.

"Can we talk somewhere private?" Skye asks me. My breath hitches in my throat, remembering the look in her eyes when she shot me.

_Never turn your back on your enemy. You taught me that, remember?_

"Sure." I say. I gesture to the coffee shop across the street. It has large, clear windows and looks pretty full, so she can't shoot me. Also, the windows will mean that Kara will be able to monitor the situation the whole time. "How about in there?"

"Fine." Skye nods, and starts to walk to the coffee shop. Kara gives me a measured look.

"Be careful." She tells me quietly. I squeeze her shoulder quickly and start to follow Skye.

"I'll be watching." She calls after me.

* * *

Skye has already sat down in the coffee shop, having chosen a table next to the window. I walk up to her as she gazes out of the window, her hands clasped in front of her. I pull the chair out opposite her and sit down. Outside it starts to drizzle.

"What do you want?" I ask, getting straight to the point.

"To talk." Skye answers, her voice quiet and unsure.

"What, Coulson's sent his little lap dog to me?" My voice inadvertently turns cruel. But even as I speak, I realise that what I'm saying I'd true. Both Skye and I had father figures in SHIELD agents: for me, it was Garrett, and for her it is Coulson. Both of us followed their orders. Only difference is that my role model was wrong. He was twisted.

Skye's dark brown eyes register hurt at my comment, but I don't care. A waitress walk over to our table and asks us what we'd like to order. Skye smiles politely at her and asks for a latte. I decline to order. The waitress flashes me a brilliantly dazzling smile before she goes to deal with Skye's order. The rain outside pelts down harder, and I hope it's only a passing shower. For Kara's sake. Like a cat, she hates the rain.

"Coulson didn't send me." Skye says once the waitress has walked away. "I came alone, Ward. I wanted to make sure that-"

"That what?" I interject, leaning back in my chair. "That I got the message, to stay the hell away from you? 'Cause yeah, I got the message, Skye! The first and second bullets delivered that. The third bullet I can maybe understand, to keep me down, but the fourth was just over kill, Skye!" My voice steadily gets louder, and my breathing heavier. I take a deep breath, trying to calm down. Skye watches me carefully, brushing a lock of her hair behind one ear. There's an ache in my stomach, and I know it's because of her. Skye. It's always because of her.

"Relax, Skye. I won't be coming after you anymore. I won't be trying to get you anymore." I tell her once I'm back in control. The waitress walks back over and gives Skye her latte before moving on, tossing me mother charming smile as she does so. "You're free, Skye." I continue after the waitress is an acceptable distance away. "Because I won't pursue you again. I'm over you." As I speak, I realise the truth in my words. Although I might not be completely over her, but I'm definitely not going to chase her again. Because that didn't do anything for me. Instead, I want to focus on fixing Kara, and prove to myself just how easy it is to fix a broken person. To prove just how easy it would of been to save me.

Skye's fingers wrap around her cup, her knuckles going white. The table shakes slightly, ripples spreading out across the surface of her drink. Her eyes go wide in panic, but I ignore her reaction. She's silent for a long time. I glance out of the window, not seeing Kara, but I know she's out there somewhere. She wasn't an agent of SHIELD for nothing, after all.

"I had to shoot you, Ward." Skye says finally. I roll my eyes dramatically. "I couldn't trust you!"

"Seriously, Skye? That's what you're going with?" I mock her. One hand moves to my shoulder and I pull down my shirt and peel back the bandage Kara makes me wear to keep the wounds safe, showing the still raw wounds, which are still looking terrible because I ripped them back open. But she doesn't need to know that. Skye gasps slightly at seeing the tips of my bullet wounds. I push my shirt back up, fixing the bandage back in place.

"That's what you did to me, Skye." I say simply. "So why don't you run back to Coulson now. You can tell him I'm not doing anything to harm him or you. And I bet your leash is getting pretty short."

"Ward-" Skye begins, but I don't let her talk. Because I know if I do, I'll start to try and forgive her, and I don't want to do that. Skye broke my heart when she shot me. And I don't want to pursue someone like that.

"You tell him to keep away from me. You keep away from me, and Kara." I tell her. "Because if I ever see your face again... Make sure you never turn your back on me. Because I doubt you'd want to be shot." I get to my feet, the chair squeaking against the lino floor as I push it backwards.

"You and Agent 33?" Skye's question stops me from leaving. Her eyes are huge in her face, and they are beautiful. But they are also deadly. They aren't the same eyes as the girl I fell for. She was carefree. This girl would shoot me, and leave me to die, all over again without a second thought.

So I twist my lips into an attempt of a smile, and I do the only thing I can think of to hurt her. Because somehow I know that saying it will hurt her, and that's what I want to do.

"We're very happy together." I say before walking away, my hands clenched into fists in my pockets.

* * *

Outside, I walk blindly, in some random direction, and Kara falls into step next to me. She has a hood over her head, but I let the drizzle hit my skin. I'm confused after seeing Skye, because that's what she does to me. She gets under my skin. Even when I don't want her there.

"Why did you tell her we were together?" She asks simply.

"I don't know."

"Will she be back?" Kara smooths her fringe over her eye nervously.

I glance back at the coffee shop, and I imagine that I can see Skye still sitting at the table, sipping at her drink.

"I don't know." I admit. "But I hope not."

* * *

"Coulson didn't send me." Skye's voice tells me, playing back from the coffee shop encounter. "But never turn your back on your enemy, Grant."

"Skye!" I yell, staring into her dark brown eyes. "Don't do this."

"You taught me that." Skye smiles evilly, her eyes flashing. Her fingers curl around the gun, which is pointed at me.

"Skye! I love you!" Desperately, I try to convince her to lower the gun.

"Skye!"

"Skye!"

"_Skye_!"

"Coulson didn't send me. I'm alone. All this, is _my_ actions." Skye shoots me suddenly. The bullets hit me, piercing straight through my skin. I gasp, collapsing against the wall. Slowly, I slip to the ground, clutching at my chest.

"Skye..." I murmur.

"This is all me." Skye repeats, and then she grins again.

"Skye..." I glance up into her eyes. "I did this to you. I changed you into an agent."

"So what?" Skye twirls the gun in her hands.

"You work for SHIELD long enough, you'll become just like me. A murderer, and a liar." I tell her.

"Don't you get it, Grant?" Skye looks at me. "The message?" She kneels down next to me.

"The message?"

"One." Skye points at the first gun wound. "I hate you. Two. I want you dead. Three. I want you to suffer for the people you hurt. And four?" Skye grins maliciously. She leans in close to my ear, one hand still touching my wounds. Her hand is quickly soaked in blood as the red liquid oozes through her fingers. _"That was just for me."_

* * *

I wake up suddenly.

"Just a dream..." I mutter. "It was just a dream."


	5. Chapter 5: The Symphony Of The Broken

**Hey guys! Another shortish chapter, but the chapter kind of called to be ended there. **

**Thanks so much for all your support! Thanks to the 4 guest reviewers on the last chapter! **

**Maybe you could all drop me another review at the end?**

* * *

_**Grant**_

Skye.

Skye.

Skye.

Skye.

Skye.

Skye.

Skye.

I don't know how I should feel about her anymore. After seeing her today... it's messed my head up all over again. It's brought up all those old feelings I had, before she shot me. But her soft brown eyes... they weren't hers. Whatever happened in San Juan, it changed her, I could see. But she's no longer my concern, even if I want to.

I get to my feet. Kara and I are in a safe house we found - which is really just some sort of abandoned shack on the outskirts of town. So technically, we're squatters.

_Add that to my list of crimes_. I think to myself with a dark laugh. _Because compared to everything else I've done, I'm sure this latest crime will matter._ My internal voice drips with sarcasm.

I walk into the kitchen and see Kara in front too the stove.

"Hey, Grant." She smiles slightly at me as I cross the room to stand next to her. "I'm making cheese on toast. Want one?"

"I'm good." I tell her. I dig my palms I tot he counter top as I stare impassively at the cracked wall, which is painted a hideous shade of yellow. The colour is faded from too much sunlight exposure, and is pretty much disgusting. I move my eyes off the wall and onto Kara's face.

Her scar is still covered by her fringe, and I realise with a jolt that although I know that her face is May's, Kara doesn't make it look like May's. Even though it's an exact replica of Melinda May's face, it's not. It's May's features mixed in with the little nuances of Kara. Like how she tilts her head to one side while listening; the certain quirk to her lips when she smiles.

"Kara?"

"Mmhuh?" She makes a noise deep in her throat.

"Does it bother you that you have another woman's face?" I blurt out. I don't know why I ask her that, because it's bound to upset her, but once the question's out there, I can't take it back.

Kara's whole posture changes in one second.

"Of course it does." Her tone, though level, barely conceals her loathe at her face. And I know it's only concealed because of her respect complex towards me: you try and be civil around your boss, don't you?

"I look in the mirror, and I don't look back. She does." Kara continues, her disgusted tone intensifying as she says the word 'she'. "And I don't even remember what I really look like anymore, so I struggle to know who I am some days." She hesitates, and I can't help but feel bad for asking her. I knew it would bring up some bad thoughts for her, but still I asked. Why?

"Grant?" Kara asks finally. I glance at her.

"Yeah?" I ask her, my eyes half closed. I'm tired: the events of the day come crashing down around me.

"How did Garrett get you?" She asks. My eyes snap open. Like with her still lingering devotion to Whitehall, we don't talk about my connection to Garrett. But then again, I blasted open that door by asking her about her face, and seeing Skye today has left me emotionally drawn out. So maybe that's why I can't stop the words spilling out from between my lips.

"When a dog's been well trained, he'll do anything his master says." I start, staring off into the distance. "Imagine this. A man tells a dog to bite down on this squeaky toy and not let go, no matter what. Then another man tries to take it from the dog's mouth but the dog won't let go, because of what the first man commanded. So the first man beats the dog, over and over again, but the dog still doesn't let go."

"Grant, what-" Kara begins, but I just keep talking.

"That's because the animal's been trained to obey his master, no matter what. The dog has been conditioned. It would let it's own tail be broken without a whimper of pain because it's so well trained." I continue. "Garrett was a master at conditioning. He could turn even the most hopeless case into an armed weapon, easily. He excelled at conditioning." I pause, take a breath.

"Garrett found a kid, nearly 16 years ago. This kid, he didn't have a great home life, and he was already partly conditioned to obey his older brother and parents. But he did something stupid, and he disobeyed them, so then Garrett got him out of that mess, if the kid would work for him. The boy agreed, seeing it as his only way out." I clear my throat, closing my eyes.

"Somewhere in Wyoming, you can find this mountain covered by a forest. Garrett dumped the kid there and left him there for a total of 5 years, popping back to see him every now and then. In the first year, if you had given him a task, he would of refused to do it. The second year, he would of started it, and then slacked off. Third year? He would of done it, but grumbled throughout. By the fifth year, you ask him to do anything, and he would comply, no questions asked." I take another breath.

"Garrett could beat this kid senseless, and he'd never complain. Say if Garrett was to break this kid's ankle, and then if he was told to walk, the kid would do it, even though he had a broken ankle. Garrett could ask this boy to shoot himself, to break his own fingers, and he would do it."

I stop suddenly, how much I've revealed to Kara crashing down on me, but somehow, it feels good to have gotten this all out in the open. I feel... lighter.

"Grant, was that kid..." Kara hesitates. "Were you that kid?"

I nod.

"That's my story, Kara Palamas. And that is why I will always be a murderer, a traitor and a stupid kid who believed the words of a misguided man." I sigh.


	6. Chapter 6: Snakes Hide In Small Places

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the support so far, and who's looking forward to AoS coming back? Of course, because I live in England, I won't get it until 2 weeks after America :'(**

**But anyway, enjoy this and please review at the end!**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Snakes Hide In Small Spaces**

_**Grant**_

HYDRA is everywhere.

Even now, after Whitehall's death, they still reign, even as SHIELD regains some control over the world again. I flick on the TV and watch as a representative for SHIELD - a certain Bobbi Morse, I think her name is - steps up and delivers a speech to the public. The speech is all about how SHIELD is not the enemy, and how HYDRA is, and that SHIELD are doing all they can to take HYDRA down.

"You're spouting crap." I tell the television. "Absolute crap. SHIELD is not a perfect organisation. It has flaws."

Although Garrett's logic was extremely flawed, he was right about one thing. SHIELD was willing to sacrifice people's lives if it compromised the whole organisation. Trust the system, they said. Let the higher levelled agents take care of it. And what did that ever get me? Even with that mission in South Ossetia with Fitz, Victoria Hand was willing to let us die for the greater good of SHIELD. And those are the sort of things Skye doesn't see. Her SHIELD created people like me. Her precious SHIELD created Garrett.

Skye once told me that she enjoyed working for the Rising Tide because it was like working in a huge jigsaw puzzle.

_"One person might not have all the pieces to a solution."_ I remember her saying. _"But a hundred people with 1 percent of the answer... that's beautiful, I think."_

And then I had told her that I was usually told that I was the only solution to the problem. That her and I saw the world very differently.

In a way, I was right. We both saw the world differently. She only saw the good pieces of SHIELD through working for Coulson's team, and even with the whole South Ossetia mission, she still chose to ignore the warning signs that SHIELD wasn't as cracked up as they claimed to be. They were willing to sacrifice their own agents for their own good.

SHIELD wasn't any better than HYDRA.

But she was too clouded by her belief in Coulson to see it.

.

Kara walks in, carrying a newspaper. She drops it to the counter I'm standing behind, and I mute the television. Kara glares at the newspaper with disgust.

"Read that." She instructs. I glance my eyes over the bold black headline, reading: _SHIELD vs HYDRA: __Organisation known as SHIELD to make a comeback. HYDRA are the true villains, spokesperson Bobbi Morse says._

"It's disgusting." Kara announces. "People are actually going to believe that?"

"Kara, you are loyal to SHIELD." I remind her gently.

"SHIELD, yes. Coulson..." She shakes her head, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, securing the hair at the base of her skull with her beloved Hello Kitty scrunchie. "No way in hell."

"Why?" I ask simply. I have to know her motivations behind her decisions: just to check that they are actually hers and not someone else's (mainly mine) that she's copying.

"Because, look at me, Grant." Kara says, her voice calm. She gestures to her face. "Why did this happen to me?"

"Melinda May wasn't happy to see you wearing her face?" I guess, my lips twitching into a small smile.

"This happened because Coulson failed to find me." Kara says frankly. "He knew HYDRA had me. He could of tried to find me. But he didn't. Because he couldn't be bothered to."

"You were in a high security facility." I don't know why I'm saying these words. It makes me sound like I'm on Coulson's side, which I'm definitely not. But maybe Kara needs me to argue back against her, so she can clear her views up.

"If one of his close team, Skye maybe, had been captured, would that of mattered?" Kara points out. "No. It wouldn't of. He abandoned me."

I realise that Kara's right. Coulson doesn't care about his agents other than his close knit team. He's willing to sacrifice others, even me with the whole Christian thing, for his own good. Coulson is not the good, benolvent man he pretends to be.

He's as corrupt as all the others. But he's also one of the best men I know.

It's confusing. I hate Coulson with a passion because of how he acts, pretending to be better than HYDRA. But on the other hand, the man that was on the Bus with me, before the rise of HYDRA... He was a good man. That man sometimes makes me wonder whether betraying the team to HYDRA was worth it.

But then I think about what kind of man he is now, and I remember all that HYDRA has given me. Although they are my enemies along with SHIELD right now, they also saved me, in a way, through Garrett. At least with Garrett I had a purpose instead if just ending up as that kid that no one knew the name off, rotting away in prison for the rest of his life. At least with Garrett, I was something.

Kara opens her mouth, as if to say something, but before she can, the door is busted wide open, and gunfire fills the room.

* * *

Kara and I react fast, her ducking behind the table and me grabbing the gun stuffed into my waistband. I aim it at the door.

"Whoever you are, come out." Kara shouts, so it seems like she's the only one in the room. Slowly, I crouch down next to her, keeping my gun ready to shoot. I glance at Kara, asking her with my eyes where her gun is. She jerks her head to one side, indicating that she's left it in the bedroom.

_Shit_. I curse. Of all the times she could leave it somewhere, and it's when we're under attack? Typical.

"Agent 33?" A familiar male's voice calls. Next to me, Kara stiffens. They want her? Why?

My finger presses down slowly on the trigger.

"We just want to talk to you." The voice calls again.

It sounds like... I frown. Coulson? But why would SHIELD want Kara? Do they think she can be an ally to their cause? And what are they going to think when they find me here with her?

"Step into the room." Kara calls suddenly. "But if you try any funny business, I have a friend here who won't hesitate to shoot you."

Coulson, if that's who it is, is silent, probably thinking, she has company?

"What are you doing?" I ask Kara in a voice just above a whisper.

"Trust me." She mouths back.

"Okay, we're coming in." Coulson answers finally, and then he steps in the room.

I flatten my back against the counter, making my breaths even and slow. I listen to Kara get to her feet and move towards Coulson. I notice a hole in the counter, so I watch through that, ready to shoot if needs be.

My body stiffens as I see Melinda May walk in behind Coulson, her gun in clear site.

_Great_. I think bitterly to myself._ The Calvary. Just what I need._

Coulson has his hands out bare, and Kara evalutes him with a cool, steely expression. I see May's faint look of annoyance at seeing her face on someone else's face before it vanishes off her face. I just hope Kara didn't see it. The last thing she needs is seeing how much May despises Kara's face.

"Agent 33." Coulson attempts to smile.

"How did you find me?" Kara cuts right to the chase. "Actually, scratch that: _why_ did you find me?"

"Agent 33-" Coulson starts, but May cuts him off, her calculating eyes darting around the whole room.

"Who's your partner?" May demands. "Where is he?"

Kara ignores her. I can't help but smile. Kara's stronger now than she has been since Whitehall's death.

"My name is Kara." She says coldly.

"Okay, Kara." Coulson nods, still acting like the friendly man he pretends to be. He's acting wary of her, but his face looks tired, drawn, like something has stressed him out.

"What do you want?" Kara is curt.

"Agent 33 - _Kara_ \- we have came to offer you a job with SHIELD. Stay with us, and we'll try and find a way to get your face back to normal. You can work for SHIELD again, and start living your life again." Coulson pleads with her.

"You want me to work for you again?" Kara says slowly, as if she's considering the offer. But I know better, especially after what she said earlier. Although if she chose to join SHIELD, I wouldn't stop her. I would send her on her way with my blessing, if that's what she really wanted.

"Yes." Coulson nods. "Will you? I know you, Kara. I've read your file. You were a great SHIELD agent. Come and be one again."

"I won't." Kara answers sharply. May glances up in surprise.

"Why?" Coulson sounds genuinely shocked that she would refuse.

"Because SHIELD abandoned me." Kara raises her head high.

"We couldn't rescue you-" May says, but Kara cuts her off.

"If had been your Skye, you would of done anything to get her back. But because it's me..." She shakes her head. "I'm not important enough.

"No!" Coulson protests.

"We couldn't risk it. As an agent, you should understand this." May points out.

Kara takes a step back.

"I don't care. All I know is, without SHIELD, I've done a lot better than I ever did with you."

Her leg is right next to me. I could reach out and touch it, but I know that would give the game up. So I just keep quiet.

"Agent 33, who have you got here?" Coulson's tone turns suspicious. "Did they - whoever they are - tell you that?"

"Whitehall isn't here to control you." May chimes in. Kara visibly shudders at the name Whitehall, the name reminding her of how she used to act, under his brainwashing.

"No!" Her voice is loud and sharp. Coulson blinks, surprised by the intensity of her voice. "This is _my_ decision. Not anyone else's. _I_ made my mind up, myself. I am loyal to SHIELD. But I am not, and will _never_ be, loyal to you."

Coulson and May are silent, shocked into silence. I feel a smile twitch on my lips. Kara is getting her own mind back. And maybe, if she starts to become who she really is again, I can start and build up who Grant Ward is outside Garrett, outside HYDRA, outside SHIELD, even outside of Christian. Maybe I can just be... me.

"I make my own decisions." Kara continues. "I have for a while now. And although the old Kara might of trusted you, I can't. Not until you start changing how you act, how SHIELD acts. And I definitely can not join you while you lie about SHIELD. You are not the good guys."

"Neither is HYDRA." May says quietly.

"I know that." Kara snaps. "But SHIELD isn't either. You are just as bad as each other. So no, I will not come back with you, Coulson." She raises her head proudly. "You can see yourself out."

My smile widens into a grin at her last sentence. Who knew that the true Kara could be so funny?

"Alright, if you can't be persuaded..." Coulson shakes his head and leaves the place, to my surprise. I had expected him to fight back, but maybe he realises that Kara is a flight risk. But but why isn't he eliminating the threat? I frown. Something is different about Coulson. He seems... broken. Tired. Not the man I knew. _Something happened._ I decide. _After Puerto Rico. Something happened that destroyed him from the inside out._

But what?

May goes to follow him but pauses in the doorway.

"Ward, have you seen Skye?" She asks. Both Kara and I freeze, as still as statues. Kara glances at me, panic written in her dark eyes, asking me what to do. I stare back at her, my brain working at a million miles per hour.

_She knows I'm here?_

Of course. She's Melinda May, after all.

Calmly I get to my feet and face her, schooling my face into a neutral expression. Kara stands next to me, her brow furrowed as she tries to figure out my strategy here.

"No." I say in a level voice. "I haven't." I raise an eyebrow as I learn this new information. Does that mean that when I last saw her, she wasn't with SHIELD? Why? "Isn't she with you?"

May merely turns around, turning her back on me. It occurs to me that I could shoot her right now, but I don't. My gun hangs loosely by my side. My finger isn't even on the trigger.

I've changed. The old me would of shot her, no questions asked.

"I'll leave you to live another day, Ward." She calls back. "But next time our paths cross, I'll kill you, I swear."

"Looking forward to it!" I yell impulsively after her, a huge, fake smile on my lips.


	7. Chapter 7: Strolling Through A Valley

**Hey, guys! I'm back! I'm so sorry for the long delay, but I got caught up writing this original story of mine - over a 100, 000 words in a month! **

**Anyway, the update should increase, but I wouldn't expect another one for a fortnight. Anyone who reads my other fics, they'll be updated in a week or so.**

**Thanks for all sticking with this story!**

* * *

_Grant_

"What's your name?" I ask Kara. We're sat in our latest hide out, this time an apartment in New York. Kara wanted to see the Empire State Building, so we travelled up here. I thought that we could try and find out more about her while we're up here.

"Kara Lynn Palamas." Kara recites. We checked the library for any of her old files, but found nothing on her. Well, nothing except for an old copy of _Matterhorn_ I may or may not have stolen, and a book on historical architecture that intrigued Kara which she definitely stole.

"Does Kara Lynn Palamas like history then?" I raise one eyebrow while turning a page in _Matterhorn_. It's a weird book choice for her, since I wasn't aware that she liked factual books. I always pictured her as a _Hunger Games_ fan.

"Kara Lynn Palamas does." Kara nods, her dark fringe falling in front of her face. It's gotten longer, and it occurs to me that she should trim it soon. Otherwise it might start to annoy her.

"Does Grant Douglas Ward like _Matterhorn_, then?" Kara asks, also raising an eyebrow. We've gotten into a habit of referring to each other with our full names, to remind ourselves who we are. It's a method that I think helps her, and helps me. It reminds me that there's still a person inside me who can exist without Garrett, because I did it for 15 years before he arrived in my life. So I can sure do it again.

"Grant Douglas Ward..." I flick another page in _Matterhorn_, not really taking in the words. But then again, I've practically memorised it. "Doesn't actually." I admit. "John liked it, so he got me to read it, so after some time I just started reading it because he told me to. I'm not too sure what kind of books I like."

Kara glances at me. She seems happy that I'm admitting that I'm not too sure what I like. Now that she seems to be getting better, more assured to who she is, I think she's made it her personal mission to make sure that I become more assured to who I am. Maybe it's because she's see that, by me helping her through her issues, that I have issues and that I'm broken. To me, I think I'm broken past repair. To Kara, I can still be fixed if someone gets to me in time.

"Did Grant Douglas Ward like books before Garrett?" Kara asks carefully, turning a page in her own book.

"He read." I say, keeping to the third person thing we're doing. "But he read to escape, not because he liked the books themselves."

"Maybe Kara and Grant should look for books that Grant might like instead of finding out about Kara's past." She suggests. I look at her.

"Kara, I don't need-" I start, but she cuts me off quickly in the way that only she can do.

_Or Skye_. I whisper in my head. _Skye could do that._

I quickly bury that thought in a box in the back of my mind where I shove every thought about _that_ certain person.

"You _do_ need, Grant." Kara says sharply. "You need a book that you can say is your favourite. You need a book that you can point to and say why you like it. You need a book that Grant chose, not because Garrett liked it, not because S.H.I.E.L.D dictated it, not because you wanted to escape reality. You need a book that you chose because _you liked it."_ Kara finishes her passionate speech, and I stare at her.

"Grant, you've helped me. Now it's time for me to help you." She continues, her May like eyes watching me kindly, looking nothing like the woman they came from in that moment. "What do you say?"

There's a long silence where I just stare at her. She waits patiently for my answer.

"Okay." I say finally. "I say okay."

* * *

The very next morning, after Kara drags me for bagels, she pushes me into a book store.

"Chose a book and we'll buy it." She tells me bossily. I stare incredulously at her.

"You want to waste money on a _book?"_ I hiss at her. Kara nods, and shoves my back gently.

"Go. Find a book." She orders. "We're not leaving until we find one."

I point to one randomly.

"That one?" I guess. Kara folds her arms.

"Grant, this book needs to be something that you've chosen because you want it. Like when you're a kid, and your parents tell you to choose one sweet in the whole shop, so you think so carefully about it." She says firmly.

"My parents never let us in eye shot of sweet shops, Kara." I tell her with a empty smile. Kara merely glares lightly at me.

"You know what I mean, Grant. So go and choose a book!"

I walk through the aisles, gazing at the shiny covers with puzzled eyes. I have no idea what I'd like to read: fantasy, horror, factual? The only books I like are the ones Garrett showed me.

I flick through a few, but nothing holds me. But I know that Kara's not going to let me leave until I choose one, so I glance around desperately.

And that's when I see it. The book that'll get me out of this minefield of a shop.

When I bring it back to Kara, she buys it without a word. When we get back to our apartment, which we rented with stolen money, she orders me to read it. So I sit down, open it to the first page and begin.

* * *

"Well?" Kara asks me once I'm done. "Did you like it?"

I glance down at the book in my hands, _The Book Thief_. A book set in world war two, about a girl who stole books because she wanted to read, even though she wasn't allowed to.

"I did." I say simply.

* * *

**_The Book Thief _is a brilliant book by Marcus Zusak. It's definitely something you should read if you like books, although I warn you: you will cry.**

**Please, no spoilers in the reviews for the latest episodes of AOS. It hasn't returned to where I live until next week!**


	8. Chapter 8: Making Your Own Decisions

**The next update is here! I've really been looking forward to writing this one, because after here, you'll start seeing a real plot start to develop with Kara, Grant and Skye. Also, the Skyeward moments will definitely start now! I will be incorporating some of the show into this fic, with the 'Real SHIELD', but you'll have to stayed tuned to find out more about that! :)**

**Also, I've recently published an Inhuman heavy fic _Translucence_ so if you want to read more about Afterlife, maybe you could check that out?**

**But more importantly, enjoy this chapter and please tell me what you thought by reviewing!**

_**Thanks to all the people who have followed/favourite/reviewed this fic. Recently, I reached over 100 followers, so thanks so much! I love all you guys!**_

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT: Making Your Own Decisions**

_**Grant**_

Kara manages to convince me to stay in New York for a little longer. We drive out of town, manage to 'find' some more money, and return to the apartment. Then Kara drags me out for bagels and coffee, claiming that she's hungry.

"Come on, Grant, it'll be fun!" She wheedles. I agree grudgingly, although I do remind her that we're fugitives from the law, not tourists.

The streets are dark and half empty, because it's near nightfall. Most people are in their homes, away from the cold.

"HYDRA hasn't attacked us for a while." I comment to her as I shove my hands in my pockets. "Do you think they're too busy with SHIELD?"

"Probably." Kara nods, her dark hair smoothed in front of her scars. "Whatever the reason, I'm glad. At least we don't have to be bothered by them."

"But we still need to keep up our guard." I caution. She nods again.

"Hey, Grant?" She asks. "Do you think SHIELD would really kill you if they saw you?" Her voice is uncertain, perhaps because she knows that if I was to die now, she would be alone. And neither of us thinks she's quite ready for that yet.

"I know you've done some terrible things, but wouldn't they try and hear you out?" Kara persists.

"They'd kill me even if they heard my side, Kara." I tell her gently. "I betrayed their trust for a madman, and they can't understand why I would trade all that they gave me for him."

"Why did you do that then?" Kara asks. "He wasn't exactly kind to you, was he?"  
I sigh.

"It's hard to explain, Kara." I tell her gently. Kara looks at me with a look of sadness in her dark eyes. "What?" I prompt her, stopping suddenly. Kara looks down.

"Kara?" I frown. "What's wrong?"

"You're such a great guy, Grant." Kara grabs hold of my sleeve with her cold fingers, her sad eyes gazing at me. "Why can't they see it? It's obvious you want them back. So why can't they see that?"

I shrug.

"They can't look past what I did. And I can't say I blame them." I say softly.

Kara keeps looking at me for a few more seconds, before her eyes focus on something past my shoulder.

"Grant, look!" She points. I turn around to follow her finger, and see that she's pointed towards a little coffee shop. I narrow my eyes, trying to see what she's pointing at.

Then I see it. Or rather, _her._  
_Skye._

_She_ sits behind the foggy glass, her hair falling into her face as she sits hunched over a laptop. There's a coffee cup next to her, but she's barely touched it. For a brief moment, I wonder if she's okay, why she's there, if she's okay. But I quickly shove the thoughts out of my head, because I no longer care about Skye. She made it pretty clear how she feels about me, and I made it clear what I feel about her last time we met. Or what I don't feel about her, really.

"I wonder what she's doing." Kara muses.

"It's not our concern." I turn my body away from the window across the street. I'm done with Skye. So done.  
"She looks alone." Kara comments.

"Come on, let's get your stupid bagels." I tell her as we start to walk away. I've walked maybe 5 steps when I realise Kara's not with me anymore.  
I spin around suddenly, my eyes searching for her. How were we attacked without me noticing? Where the hell is Kara? Panic fills me, because I can't see her. I'm not used to the blind panic inside me, because I've never felt this about someone before… Not unless it's Skye.

And then I see her. Relief fills me, as I realise that she's okay. She's running across the street, and for a moment I frown. What is she doing?  
And then I see exactly where she's headed.

_Skye_. She's headed for _Skye_.

I don't think. I just act. I take off running, darting through cars with one aim in mind. Get to Kara before she gets to Skye. I don't want her to get to Skye. I want to get rid of Skye from my life, not bring her further in. But Kara has a head start, so she skids into the café, yanking the door open.

"Kara!" I yell desperately. I don't know why I'm fighting this so hard. Maybe it's because whenever I see Skye, whenever I think about Skye, I start wondering about her. Her and me.

Kara doesn't hear me, or maybe she doesn't even bother listening to me. All I know is she strides into the café, the door shutting behind her.  
I'm quickly at her heels, pulling the door open almost as soon as it's shut. The café is warm and inviting, but I'm not here for the atmosphere. My eyes scan the café for Kara, and when I see her, I walk briskly over to her.

"Kara." I say, ignoring Skye even as she looks up at me. "Come on."

"Sit down, Grant." Kara replies, pulling out the seat from next to her. I notice Skye stiffen in my peripheral vision. "The coffee here looks great! We'll eat here."  
"Kara." My tone turns slightly pleading. Although I hate to sound like this in front of Sk- _her_ – I don't worry about it.

"Grant." She copies my tone, blinking her May Eyes at me. "Please? I've been really good!"

"You nearly burnt down the kitchen this morning." I point out even as I surrender to Kara. She rarely asks for anything, so I should honour this. Even if I hate seeing Sk- _her_.

I pull out the chair and sit down heavily, my body language screaming 'defensive'. Skye glances up at me through her lashes, her eyes displaying a mixture of emotions that I can't quite pinpoint.

Kara orders our food and coffee, while I do my best to stare at Skye, trying to intimidate her. I have _no_ feelings for this girl. _None_.

"What brings you to New York, Skye?" Kara asks her politely, as we're all old friends meeting for coffee instead of mortal enemies.

"Nothing much." She shrugs, her brown eyes darting around, flitting from me to Kara. "What about you?" She asks that question tentatively. I narrow my eyes at her, but Kara kicks me in the leg as I open my mouth to talk. The movement barely bruises me, but I still feign pain.

"Shut up, Grant." She says, shooting me a meaningful look. "Can you promise me to behave?"

"I'm not a child, Kara Lynn." I pull out her middle name. Kara merely sticks out her tongue at me.

"Thank you for behaving, Grant Douglas." She says in a sing song voice before turning back to Skye, who's watching us with bemusement.  
"Sorry about Grant, Skye." She says, smiling softly. "He's not a people person."

"Oh." She says, still frowning. Something seems to have confused her, maybe the fact that Kara and I have such an easy friendship, when I was never like this with the Bus Team. And then, I was trying to make them trust me. Maybe Skye doesn't understand why I'm being like this with Kara, when I apparently have no ulterior motive here.

"How are you, then?" Kara asks, apparently deciding that small talk is necessary here. "Well and healthy?"  
"We know you're not with SHIELD." I can't bite the words back. Skye's big brown eyes dart back up to me.

"Yes, I'm not with SHIELD anymore Ward." She says softly, curling her fingers into her palms. "I had to leave. Because they, like everyone else, grew tired of me. Is that what you want me to say? Do you want me to tell you about how alone and isolated I am?" Her voice gets increasing loud, and Kara shushes her, not wanting to attract attention.

"Why?" The question falls from my lips involuntarily. I wasn't meant to ask it – _I don't care about the answer _– but a part of me couldn't help but care. We spent months on a small enclosed plane together, and for the most part, I was infatuated with her. Even after she put four bullets in me, I can't help but care. Because that's me. I'm weak. Weak and stupid.

Skye glances down.

"I…" She trails off. She bites down on her bottom lip, maybe considering whether to tell us the truth. The waitress brings over Kara's and my coffee, and a cake for Kara. Kara thanks her, and then the waitress leaves.

"I had to leave SHIELD. After Puerto Rico, things… changed." Skye says, the words crashing into each other in her hurry to get them out. I get the feeling that we're the first people she's said this to, so maybe she really wants to get it off her chest.

"Changed?" Kara questions. "Changed how?"

I take a sip of my coffee, grimacing slightly as it burns my tongue. But that pain is barely non-existent compared to the many, _many_ kinds of pain that I have experienced in my 30 years on this earth.

"I went into the temple, just like my father wanted." She says. "And the diviner, it did just what Raina and he said it would. It made me into a monster." Her words drip with bitterness. "So when Coulson, Simmons and the others found out… they shunned me. All except Fitz, that is. They were scared of me, because I could hurt them. Because _I_ was a weapon now, and I was a weapon that couldn't be put away or turned off or controlled."

"So you left?" Kara whispers, her hands clutching at her coffee, her eyes wide. Skye nods, her eyes looking ashamed at her vulnerability.

"I had to. Who knows what they would have done? I would have ended up locked up like-"

"Me?" I interrupt her. Both Kara and Skye turn to look at me. Skye's mouth is left ajar slightly.

"You?" Kara frowns, not understanding.

"SHIELD locked me up in a dark hole in the ground for weeks. They left me without company, only coming to see me when they needed something. Other than that, they left me to rot." I say without emotion. "So if you had stayed at SHIELD, they might have treated you the same way. Like a monster instead of a human being."

Kara reaches out and pats my shoulder in comfort. Skye blinks at me a few times, realisation dawning in her eyes.

"Where are you staying, Skye?" Kara asks suddenly. Skye looks back down again.

"My van." She admits. I choke on the next sip of coffee.

"You have another van?" I exclaim once I've recovered. "Seriously? What is it with you and vans?"

"Vans remind me of home." Skye argues back. "Vans are cool, Ward."

"You're sleeping in a van?" Kara's brows knit together. "But how cold is that?"

"I'm used to it." Skye assures her. Kara, however, doesn't seem to believe her, and instead reaches across the table and grabs at her hands. Skye jumps at Kara's touch, and tries to move away, but Kara's fingers are stronger than steel. She stares into Skye's brown eyes with hers.

"New York is cold at night, Skye." Kara says gently.

"So?" Skye says, some of her own snark coming back into her words.

"Come stay with us." She says impulsively. "For the night. So you don't freeze that much."

I stare at Kara, and Skye mirrors my look.

"What are you saying Kara?" I half growl at her. "What are you saying?"

"Come and stay with us." Kara repeats, only looking at Skye and completely ignoring me. "For the night. I can't let you freeze. In the morning, you can go. But tonight, I insist that you stay with Grant and I."

"Kara, I'm not having her with us!" I can't help but explode at her. "She shot me, remember?"

Kara shoots me a glare.

"Of course I know. I was the one who pulled them out of you, remember that? But I can't let her freeze." She argues back with me.

"And I can't let her-" I start, but Kara cuts me off, her eyes burning.

"Grant, you're always telling me to make my own decisions. To start to live my life as me, and not as Whitehall's puppet. So let me make my own decisions." Her dark eyes bore into my soul. "Please."

I stare at her, torn. Kara has a point. She does need to make her own decisions. But why does her first major decision have to involve _Skye?_

Kara smiles over at Skye, knowing that I have no way to tell her no. Because if I do, I'm basically defying everything I've taught her over our time together.

"It's decided. You'll stay with us tonight." She tells Skye. "Whether you like it or not."


	9. Chapter 9: Opinions and Suspicions

**Most of this chapter was written in the last hour and a half, so if there are any errors, I apologise. Here's the next chapter, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. If you liked it, leave a review at the end so I can see what you liked!****.**

**Thank you so much guys for the 126 follows! It's the most I've ever had on a story!**

**_To the to guests named as 'Guest': both of your reviews cracked me up! If you look carefully, you might see them referenced in here..._**

**_To the guest 'Brenda': thank you for your review, I'm glad you like it!_**

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**CHAPTER NINE: Clashing Opinions, Scorching Suspicions**

**_Grant_**

Skye looks out of place in our run down apartment, with her laptop tucked under her arm. She stands awkwardly in the middle of the living room, not really too sure where to go. Kara told her to bring her van to the apartment, and she brought up a few spare clothes to sleep in.

"I'll take the sofa." I say abruptly, moving past her. My attitude towards Skye is frosty, and hers towards me isn't much better. It's clear from the suspicions looks she's giving me that Skye doesn't trust me, and she probably thinks that I have some sort of ulterior motive in inviting her back her. (Although technically Kara was the one that asked her to come here, not me).

"Skye, you can crash in Grant's bed then." Kara smiles, apparently ignoring the excruciating tension in the room. "Although we do share a room, just to inform you. I hope that's not a problem."

"Why are you doing this, Agent 33?" Skye says suddenly, her fingers gripping her laptop tightly, until the knuckles go white. "Why can't you just leave me alone?" Her voice cracks on the word 'alone'. "Am I some sort of charity case for you? Is that what this is?" Skye practically yells at her. "Because I don't want your pity! I don't want your charity! Do you understand?"

Skye breathes hard, her entire body shaking, and I swear the room does too. Her eyes are wide, and she takes shuddering breaths.

Kara keeps still, and for a moment I think she's going to cry or break down in some way. She's never really been yelled at before, not since I started to help her, so I hold my breath, bracing myself for her reaction.

But I underestimate Kara. She's stronger than I think, and she's more than ready to take on Skye.

"I understand perfectly well, Skye." She says, an edge of danger to her voice. "I was brainwashed by Whitehall, and for a while after Grant found me, I thought he was just helping me because he felt sorry for me. But now I know he's doing it because he wants to help." She glances up at me, and I give her a small proud smile.

"Grant Ward? Wants to help?" Skye can't help herself but laugh drily at that. "I'm sorry, but the man is a freaking serial killer, not a helper."

"I'll excuse you that one." Kara folds her arms across her chest, her eyes icy and steely. "But next time you insult anyone in my home, I'll chuck you out myself."  
Skye falters slightly, but I don't let her find a way to come back from that.

"Listen here, Sk-" I cut myself off from saying her name. I know if I say it, I'll just break. "I get that you have... issues with me. But I don't want to argue over them. Let's just behave, okay?"  
Skye stares at me for a long time before nodding slightly.

"How did you know I wasn't with SHIELD?" She asks in a small voice.

"May and Coulson came knocking." I answer. "Looking for Kara, and they asked if I had seen you recently."

"What did you say?" Her voice is filled with urgency, her eyes wide. Clearly she doesn't want SHIELD to find her, so I tuck that piece of information away for later. Who knows, maybe it could come in use.

"Relax, we told them no." Kara tells her. "But why did you run? What exactly happened to you to forsake SHIELD?"

"I'd like to know that too, actually." I add onto Kara's sentence. Skye looks nervous, but also defensive, like she's ready to fight us if needs be. I laugh a little in my head. No matter how good Skye is as an Agent, I'll always have the advantages. Even if the Calvary trained her.

"I don't want to trust you." Skye says frankly, dodging the question about why she ran from SHIELD with ease. "And I can't ever bring myself to trust Ward. But since you've let me in here, I'll be civil, because let's face it, it's really cold out there."

"We'll appreciate your civilness, Skye." Kara jerks her head into a nod. Skye glances around the room, a weird fervour in her eyes.

"Not to be rude, but do you have a shower?" She asks. A smile nearly flickers on my lips, before I control it and shove it down in a dark deep hole in my mind.

"You can shower after you tell us why you ran from SHIELD." My voice is curt. "Think of it as a trade. Answers for a shower."

I can see Skye considering it. I may not know what, or who, she is now, but at her core, I still know that Skye goes crazy for a shower.

"Tell me what kind of shampoo you have." She asks, confirming my suspicion that she's considering my option.

"Err, my shampoo is grape scented, I think?" Kara guesses. "I just picked something up of the shelf to be honest. I'll go check." And before I can protest that it doesn't matter, Kara's slipped out of the room to check, leaving me alone with Skye.

She watches me with suspicious eyes, and I return the look. Neither of us trust each other, and Kara's the only connecting factor between us. And even then, she's only offering a bed to Skye because... I don't even know anymore. But we have too much history between us now, so there's no going back for us.

"Why didn't you tell May that you saw me?" She asks, her voice soft in the deadly quiet of the apartment.

"I..." I consider what to tell her, _if _I should even tell her. What's the point? She's made it quite clear that she doesn't believe a word that comes out of my mouth. But I can't be bothered to ignore her, and I owe it to Kara to at least _try_ to be civil. Skye waits for my answer. "I guess I thought that you had a reason for running from SHIELD. Because I doubt you would run from them for no reason, and I don't think that it's my responsibility to help SHIELD. Not after..."

"Because you're HYDRA?" Strangely, her voice doesn't hold any of the bitterness it used to, any of the scorn. It's simply calm, like it's simply stating a fact.

"I wasn't HYDRA." My response is automatic, falling off my tongue without prompting. Skye, to my surprise, rolls her eyes, and I see a bit of her old sass in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, you were only loyal to Garrett, not HYDRA. We've heard it all before, Ward." She says.

"It's the truth." I say. Skye rolls her eyes again.

.

Kara walks back into the room, clutching the single bottle of shampoo that she and I share. We don't have enough funds to waste on choosing our own shampoo, and I don't really class shampoo as important. I've washed with much worse over the years as a SHIELD agent.

"Yeah, it's grape and apple." She shows the bottle to Skye. "Our shower gel's just a mint scent, I think?" Kara frowns. "Is that okay?"

"That's fine, thank you." Skye forces a smile to her lips. "So, in exchange for that shower, I have to talk?"

I nod curtly, not trusting myself to talk right now.

"Just tell us some of it. Enough that we understand." Kara adds onto my nod. Skye takes a steadying breath, adjusting her grip on her laptop, swallowing nervously.

"Okay." She says. "You know how I said that I changed? Into a monster? Well, it turns out that my mother was an Inhuman, a race of people made by the diviners, which are weapons brought to Earth by the Kree, a-"

"An ancient race of aliens, who sometimes go to other planets to make their armies?" I interrupt her. "Yeah, I've heard of them."

"So the diviners were the Kree's way of making their armies?" Kara questions. Skye nods, her fingers trembling slightly.

"So the temple in Puerto Rico, it turns out that it was an old Kree temple, to make the chosen few gain their birth right, their powers." She continues. "And I - for some stupid reason - followed Raina into the temple. She was placing it in this stand, and I went in, and Trip followed, and-" Skye cuts herself off, breathing hard.

"You changed, then?" I sense that whatever happened in that temple, she doesn't want to think about. And even though I have no feelings towards Skye, I can't help but not want to push her into talking. I don't want her to break, like a faceted glass decanter.

"Yeah." Skye averts her gaze. "I changed."

"What can you do, then?" Kara asks curiously. Her dark eyes glimmer with interest.

"I can-" Skye looks awkward, like she doesn't want to say. And as I've said so many times before, _I have no feelings towards this girl, _but without my permission, my mouth starts to talk.

"That's enough for now." My voice, strong and confident, cuts into Skye's sentence. She looks greatly relieved, and I try not to let that look make me smile. "Let her shower, Kara, and we'll ask her some more afterwards."

"Yeah, you're right." Kara says, shaking herself. "Skye, it doesn't look like you've showered in days! You could probably use it, although the water won't be hot."

"I'll take it." Skye says eagerly. "As you said, I haven't had a good, decent shower for a while, so anything is okay, thank you."

"I'll show you to the shower." Kara says. "Grant, you can sit here, and look after her laptop, okay?"

"Don't look at it, okay?" Skye says apprehensively. I give her a suspicious look.

"Why?" I narrow my eyes at her. "Is there something I shouldn't see on there?"

"Yeah, my secret plan to kill you two in your sleep." She says sardonically, but my Specialist senses go into overdrive, screaming about a possible threat. I try to suppress the feeling that I should take her down.

"Nah, I don't want you to drain my battery." She explains. "It's already running low, and I can only charge it in internet cafés."

"I wasn't going to go on it anyway." I mutter to myself, sinking down onto the sofa, and Skye sets the laptop down on the seat next to me. Then she and Kara slip out of the room, going towards the shower.

.

_The girl who put four in me in currently in the shower in my apartment._ I try to process that piece of information. It's surreal, because a part of me thinks that Kara's gone crazy by inviting her into our home. But if it helps Kara, I'm willing to put up with her... for one night, anyway.

Kara walks in soon after that, sitting down on the seat next to me. She sighs, smiling slightly as she looks at me.

"Skye's in the shower." She says. "She'll be out soon."

"Why did you invite her back here, Kara?" The tension I've been feeling since seeing Skye in that café bubbles to the surface, and I struggle to contain it.

"I wanted to." Kara's eyes flash. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"She shot me, Kara! Of course I have a problem with that, you idiot!" I snap at her.

"I know she shot you, Grant, _because I took those bullets out of you_. Or do you not remember that?" Kara's fire burns back at me.

"Why did you invite her?" I repeat my question again, just changing my tone slightly.

"I wanted to help her, Grant." Kara's expression softens. "I saw her, and I saw how _alone_ she was. I wanted to help her."

"What, you wanted to be Kara Lynn Palamas, the woman who's been offering beds to orphans since 2015?" I raise an eyebrow at her. "Why can't I just go sleep in her van? It would be better for me."

"I'm not having you freeze to death in the cold, just because you have issues with our house guest, Grant!" Kara hisses, elbowing me in the ribs sharply. I wince in pain: Kara's elbows are incredibly pointy.

"You'll just have to get over it." She continues, relaxing back into the sofa. "I mean, she's going to be sticking around for a while."

I stop, her phrase echoing in my ears. S_he's going to be sticking around for a while._

I swallow, narrowing my eyes as I turn to Kara. _You'll just have to get over it. _

"What do you mean, she'll be sticking around for a while?" I stare incredulously at her. "This is a one time thing, remember Kara?"

"Yeah, about that." Kara doesn't change from her relaxed stance, remaining infuriatingly calm. "She's not leaving, Grant."

"What?" I can't form words in my mouth very easily. "_What?_"

"Skye's alone, Grant. All alone, and she's scared and cold." Kara points out. "I've been there. She doesn't know who to trust, or where to go. She has no options. So let's be her option."

"Kara, I'm not-" I cut myself savagely. "Kara, please just don't do this."

"I can't with a good conscience let her walk away from us, Grant." Kara refuses to hear reason. "She'll die."

"I don't care!" I exclaim. "She left me to die, remember? So why should I care about her?" I breath hard.

"You've helped me, Grant." Kara says. "You've taught me that we have to be kind and compassionate. So why won't you let me extend that hand of kindness to Skye?"

"_Because she shot me!" _My words leaves me in a burst of anger. Kara blinks in shock, because she's never really seen this side of me. "I tried to _help_ her, Kara, and she shot me as soon as I turned my back. That's why I can't let you help her."

"You need to stop living in the past." Kara's response is cool and calm. "I'm not going to let her go back onto the streets. She's an ally, Grant, not an enemy that has to be neutralised."

"How is she an ally, Kara? She's Coulson's pet." I say tiredly. "Tell me how she's an ally."

"She's an hacker." Kara says. "So she could take care of money for us."

"Next."

"She's an agent. If we're attacked, we could use her help." Kara points out next.

"Next." I repeat.

"Grant, let me do this." She says, changing tactic. "How about this? We'll ask her, and if she says no, I won't fight her that much. And then, if she says yes, and she betrays us, I'll deal with her myself. How about that?"

"Ask me what?" Skye's quiet voice asks from the doorway, and both Kara and I freeze stone still in our places.


	10. Chapter 10: Rain Storm Oblivion

**The next chapter is here! Yay! It's changed direction from where I originally wanted it to go, but I thought that this direction was better for the chapter, making it actually one of my favourite chapters to write. I hope that you guys like it as much as I did.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Keep those reviews coming, all you guys!**

**Also, I've noticed that now I've hit 133 followers on this fic. Thanks to all of you!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**CHAPTER TEN: Rain Storm Oblivion **

**_Grant_**

"Ask me what?" Skye repeats, walking over to stand in front of us, her arms folded over her chest. She's dressed in the spare clothes, cropped leggings and a long shirt, and I glimpse her ankles peeking out from above her socks. Her long brown hair is straggly and damp, hanging over her shoulders.

"Ask me what?" She asks again, her voice growing more and more impatient. She sounds arrogant, but I still hear a little bit of fear tangled through her words.

"Skye-" Kara starts, but I cut in quickly. I don't want to discuss this now, not until I've had a chance to convince Kara out of inviting Skye to stay with us. It's a bad decision, I know it.

"We'll tell you in the morning." I say, my voice dismissive. "It can wait."

Skye looks slightly disappointed, but she doesn't fight me on it, instead nodding meekly. Kara shoots me a look, to which I return one that means _we'll talk about this later_. I know that I don't want Skye with us, despite her assets. I can't trust her, and I only want people who I can trust around me. So basically, only Kara.

But can I keep up an argument with Kara? She's a little feisty, and when she wants something - like with the giant Hello Kitty pillow she cuddles with at night, that I refused to buy her until she wore me down - she will get it. But Skye is the one thing I can't budge on. The only thing that's certain is that Kara and I are going to clash, and it won't be pretty to watch.

"So, are you ready to go to sleep?" Kara tries to smile, but it looks forced. Skye looks between us all, and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Okay, what's going on here?" She demands, her fiery brown eyes looking at us all. "I can tell when someone's keeping a secret for me, and you two are keeping secrets from me."

"We're not-" Kara tries to say, but Skye levels a glare at her, and Kara falls silent.

"Yes, Skye, we are keeping something from you." I say calmly. "But we're not going to tell you." Skye looks up at me, but I keep talking. "Because you're not our friend, Skye. You are the enemy, the enemy who we're helping, for one night. This doesn't mean that we have to tell you anything."

Skye looks angrily at me, but she doesn't dispute it. She knows as well as I do that it's the truth, that although we're allowing her to stay here with us, she's not our friend, or our ally. She's our enemy, despite what Kara seems to think. But Kara doesn't know Skye like I do; she doesn't know that Skye's not someone we can trust. She isn't the compassionate girl she once was. She's a hardened SHIELD agent, whether she's with SHIELD or not. We can't ever trust her. We can't even use her. Because she's Coulson's lap dog, through and through, just like I was with Garrett. So no matter what Kara says, I'm never going to back down. I want to be around people I can trust and people I can care about safely. Skye is neither of these things. Skye is the enemy. Everything with Skye is so... complicated.

"Fine. Where's the bed?" She says crisply, moving over the sofa, and picking up her laptop, clutching it tight to her chest again. I narrow my eyes suspiciously at her attachment to that laptop: could it really be that it's just running out of power? Or is it that just an excuse to keep me and Kara away from whatever she's hiding on it? I decide that of Kara wins the argument - which she won't, I'm sure of it -

"I'll take you." Kara says, her tone a little strange. I think she's upset that I don't agree with her, and instead I'm arguing with her on it. "And we'll talk in the morning, okay?"

She takes Skye out of the room, and I start to mentally prepare my argument to Kara about why Skye can't possibly stay here.

But then I hear a noise.

It's a small one, barely audible, but I still hear it. I swallow, licking my lips nervously. It could be just a noise. But it could also be an enemy.

I reach over to behind the sofa, and pull out my gun, flicking the safety off as I slowly get to my feet, and move towards the front door. My footsteps are light, my breathing shallow, and I immediately notice that the door - that was once shut - is cracked open a slit.

My grip tightens on my gun as I start to creep towards the open door, hoping that Kara stays with Skye for a few more moments.

The door continues to swing slightly ajar, and I notice that the latch has been clean broken off. My finger slowly slides down on the trigger, and I take one more shallow breath, closing my eyes briefly to steady myself.

Then I open the door and shoot the HYDRA agent standing there straight in the face.

.

The man, who had been standing to one side of the door, but in a way that I could see his shadow through the slight gap, falls backwards, blood everywhere. I shoot another bullet at the other HYDRA agent with him, before shooting a warning bullet at the ones coming up at me from the stairs. Then, slamming the door shut behind me, I sprint back into the apartment, where Skye and Kara are now in the living room, fear in Kara's eyes.

"HYDRA." I say curtly, knowing we only have a few seconds. So I grab Kara's gun, chuck it at her, and push her towards the other hallway, deeper into the apartment, towards the bedroom. Behind us, I hear the door fall, and know that the seconds are over. We're under attack.

The room begins to shake once more, but I ignore it, and Skye looks panicked even as I stand by the bedroom door, peeking around the door, ready to defend our backs to allow Kara and Skye to start to escape before following them. Kara and I have a plan; but it's not exactly fool proof. But we have to try to escape, just in case we can.

Kara pulls on her bag of possessions, stuffing Skye's laptop into it, and opens up the window, moving quickly. Skye stands there, frozen even as I shoot down the hallway at the HYDRA agents coming at us. Kara and I are the only ones really dressed for this: Skye doesn't even have any shoes on.

"Grab those shoes." I instruct Skye, gesturing with one hand to a pair of Kara's. I don't know if they'll fit, but she needs them. She moves slowly, as if trapped underwater, and her fumbling fingers lock over the pair of shoes I indicated to.

"Come on, Skye!" Kara urges, standing up on one of the beds as she swings her leg out of the window. "Follow me!" She ducks out of the opening, and drops down onto the fire escape stairs below her. After a moments hesitation, she follows Kara's lead even as I shoot my last bullet.

"Crap." I swear, and tuck the empty gun into my waistband, before shutting the door and pushing one of the other beds against it. It won't hold for long, but it's the only solution I have. The hits that fall on the cheap wood the next second prove that long isn't as much as I hoped, as already the wood begins to dent. Then I hear them back up, and know that they're about to shoot.

I manage to squeeze through the window and onto the fire escape just as the door gives way. Rain falls from the sky at a steady rate, quickly soaking me to the bone. Even though the rain isn't heavy, it's wet and humid. It's hard enough to try to escape: and this rain in this dark night is not going to help at all. But I've been in worse weather conditions: we can do it. We can try to do it, at least it.

I sprint down the rickety stairs, my feet slipping and sliding on the slippy rain soaked metal stairs, following Kara and Skye ahead of us. Kara's shooting at the HYDRA agents on the ground, but her aim is bad from up here, and theirs is not. I duck a few whizzing bullets, and manage to catch up with the girls.

"We're trapped." Kara tells me. "From both sides." Fear is evident in her voice. She doesn't want to be taken by HYDRA, and neither do I.

I glance down at the HYDRA agents on the ground, and I don't know if I can take them all. But I know what I have to do, for Kara.

"Save your last bullets." I instruct her, and Kara nods, knowing exactly what to save them for. Because if HYDRA can't have us... no-one can.

"What?" Skye interrupts. "That's suicide! You'll die down there, and then you want Kara to shoot us all? That's crazy, Ward. There has to be another way."

"It's our only option." I get ready to possibly die. "We have to try to fight our way out of it."

"It's crazy!" She protests.

"I'm a specialist, Skye!" I shout at her. I'm angry: she's wasting time, time that I could use to try and turn "This is what we do."

"No!" Skye yells, just as I'm about to try and fight our way out of this. For the briefest of moments, Kara and I glance at her, her passionate yell stopping me in my tracks.

And then the whole world starts to shake.

.

It starts small, and then the earthquake shatters the world around us, tearing up the ground beneath the HYDRA agents, breaking the building behind us, and bringing down the stairs under our feet. We fall, and I have to move fast to make sure I don't get impaled by some of the falling metal. While Kara and I stay on the floor, protecting our heads from the debris, while the HYDRA agents panic and try to save themselves, all I see is Skye.

She's gotten to her feet, standing tall and proud among the falling pieces of our surroundings, rain falling in slow motion around her, surrounding her like a aura from the heavens. Her face is screwed up in concentration, and her whole body is tense, her feet spread apart to steady herself. She holds her hands out towards the HYDRA agents, the fingers outstretched wide. I stare as everything seems to slow down, and her eyes snap open, burning bright and fierce. Ripples of air push from Skye's fingers, and collide into the HYDRA agents, pushing them backwards, as if slamming a huge pole into their stomachs. A roar fills my ears from the action, and then the HYDRA agents fall to the floor, stunned. Skye then gestures her hand towards us, pushing the falling debris away with one movement. It crashes into the nearby buildings, loud and sudden.

"Guys, come on!" She yells, breaking the stunned, frozen position I'm in. "We have to go. HYDRA won't be put down forever. It's only a temporary measure. We have to move!"

I climb to my feet, and Kara does the same, wiping a sliver of blood off her forehead. Her expression is the reflection of mine, but I'm the only one to voice them:

"What the hell was _that _all about?" I half shout at her, over the sound of the rain and the sirens exploding all around the city. Skye avoids my eyes, clenching and unclenching her fists almost subconsciously.

"Let's just figure out how to escape HYDRA." She says, her eyes still refusing to meet mine or Kara's.

"Good plan." Kara says, pushing her own questions to one side in favour of running from HYDRA. "Let's run, before whatever you did wears off."

"Agreed." We all start running, heading into the confusing alleys of New York.

.

It's only when we're far away, all exhausted and our chests heaving from the strain of running so fast, I look towards Kara, who's still got her backpack, and Skye, who still looks scared.

"You win, Kara." I manage to get out in between breaths. "Skye can stay. Because whatever _that_ was back there, she's definitely an ally."

Kara grins triumphantly.

"Yes!" She says. "I knew you'd see sense eventually, Grant! I knew it!"

Meanwhile, Skye's looking in between us, confusion written in her eyes. Then it suddenly dawns on her what we're talking about.

"Wait, you guys want me to stay?" She says, her eyes darting between us nervously. Kara nods. "Let me guess: I don't have a choice here." A wry smile twitches on her lips.

Kara nods again, like a kid that's just been asked if she wants a dog. Then, my head joins her in nodding. Skye sighs dramatically, but I can see she's secretly pleased that we want her. Because all what Skye's ever wanted is to belong. SHIELD rejected her, and that must have hurt her deeply. So she's craving that feeling again, and she might just get it here. From Kara, because even if I want her as an ally, she's still my enemy. But I think that Skye knows that, and returns the same feelings towards me: I'm her enemy, and she's mine.

But Skye wants to belong somewhere, even if that somewhere is with her former SO.

"Well, I suppose I could stay a while..." She says, and Kara hugs her suddenly.

"Yay!" She cheers, the HYDRA trauma shoved to the back of her head now.

"Let's focus on getting clear of here now." I say. "And we'll figure out what we'll do now that we're no longer a team of two, but a team of three."

"Let's ride, the fabulous threesome!" Kara says excitedly. Skye and I exchange a look.

"We're not going to be called that." Skye and I say in unison. "We are _really_ not going to be called that."

Kara pouts.

"Meanies."

* * *

**This was my first time writing Skye's powers, so I hope I did well. I was a little nervous about it, since it's written in Grant P.O.V. but I think I did it okay. If you'd like to tell me if I did good in a review, please do!**


	11. Chapter 11: Going Straight To Nowhere

**Next chapter for you all! It's not as long as I'd like it to be, but I really wanted to end it where I did, and I didn't want to extend out other sections too much in case it sounded a little too forced. But anyway, I've been looking forward to writing this bit for a while, so I hope you guys all enjoy it!**

**Also, in regards to the plot of ****_Anchor_****, I actually have some definite plans. I don't want to spoil it for you guys, but I will tell you that some aspects of the second half of Series 2 will be included in ****_Anchor_****, but I'll be writing it in my way. **

**One more note: Thank you all so much for all the follows, favourites and reviews! You are all blowing me away with the support! :)**

**Without further ado, enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to review and tell me what you thought!**

* * *

**CHAPTER ELEVEN: Going Straight To Nowhere**

**_Grant_**

We're homeless. Again.

You'd think that Kara and I would be used to running by now, but as we move through the rainy streets of New York, I realise that apartment felt like home. Kara and me, and that apartment... it was just nice to feel relaxed for once. Relaxed and safe. And now... now it's gone.

Skye treks next to me, her hair soaking wet. It was already damp from the shower, but now thanks for the rain, it's dripping. She's still wearing her cropped leggings, and her clothes are really not appropriate for this. But what choice do we have? HYDRA is still pursuing us. So we don't exactly have the luxury to let her get dressed. But at least she has shoes on, even if they are Kara's, and don't fit her properly.

"Grant, what do we do?" Kara asks me quietly. Her tone is scared: Kara fears HYDRA with all her being after what they did to her.

I shrug. So far all we've done is run from the scene of the crime, in silence after my decision to let Skye stay with us. But we've nearly run back into HYDRA once already, and I don't want to get captured again. We only have three bullets left in our gun. And three bullets are not enough to fight our way past HYDRA, who have more than double that amount each. More like ten times that amount. If we tried to confront them, we'd die.

"I don't know, Kara." I admit. Because it's the truth. I have no idea where we go from here, because we're out of safe houses. We're nearly out of cash. We have nowhere to go.

"We need to lay low." I decide. Skye glances at me, scraping her hair behind her ears. I glance at her, wondering what the hell all that earth-quaking was about. Is that what she changed into? Is that why she's running from SHIELD? Because she can… what? Make everything quake? I can see why that would be a problem. Earthquakes will be a destructive power, a power that needs to be contained. But Skye's different. She's… _Skye._

Coulson was probably reluctant to lock Skye up, because Skye is like a daughter to him. But I guarantee that May was all in favour of keeping her contained, even though Skye is – _was_ – one of them. Because May knows what powered people can do: Bahrain is the example of that. Although I don't know the details, I know that May isn't called the Calvary for nothing. So it's little wonder that Skye ran, if she had these very dangerous powers.

"Do you have anywhere in mind?" Kara wants to know. "Because we need to run. They could be on our tracks. We need to run far, and we need to stay out of the cities for a while."

Both Skye and Kara shiver, both of them being cold, I realise. What we need to do is find somewhere to stay while we figure out what HYDRA is planning.

But that seems like an impossible mission.

* * *

When morning comes, we hide behind a dumpster as we see HYDRA soldiers. Even though they are hiding their weapons, I can see that they are ready to attack if they see us.

"What do we do?" Skye asks me, and I'm taken back to our days SHIELD. When we would run missions together, and I would call her 'rookie', and she would call me 'robot'. But those days are gone.

"HYDRA are all over the city by now." I mutter under my breath. "So we have to find a way out of here."

"Like that will be so easy." Skye snorts, and Kara nods in agreement. My eyes scan the horizon, and that's when I see our way out.

A truck.

It's some kind of cargo truck, I gather by the open back of the truck, showing the cargo boxes inside. The driver is just signing something with a nearby man, so we don't have much time. I scan the area for HYDRA: and I find the area clean for the moment.

So I grab Kara's hand; I grab Skye's hand. Skye flinches away from me, but doesn't pull away as I yank at their arms, dragging them after me. I climb onto the back of the truck, pulling the girls up after me. Kara frowns in confusion, but quickly sidles into a gap between the boxes, hiding in the shadows of the back of the truck. Skye and I crouch a box or two away from her, squeezing ourselves in. I hold my breath as I feel Skye's body warm against mine. The shadows hide us, but my heart beats fast even just thinking about if the owner finds us. Skye shifts slightly, and I catch a whiff of the grape and apple shampoo in her hair. It's a cheap, overpowering scent, yet I find myself wanting to lean closer to her. I shake myself mentally. _She may be your ally now, but remember: she shot you. You can't trust her, not completely._

I hear footsteps as the owner of the truck, and then the sliding sound as the truck's door is shut, plunging us into complete darkness. It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, but it's not the darkest I've ever been in. Vault D in SHIELD came close: that darkness almost sucked the life out of me. We don't move until we feel the truck hum to life beneath us, and it starts to move forward. Even then, we wait for around 5 minutes, just to make sure we're in the clear. We don't want him to stop because of any noises he hears, and if he comes back here to find us, we'll have to run off. Which I don't want to have to do. After having no sleep at all last night, and only a few patchy hours the day before, I'm not really in the best position to run again. I need to rest. But I can't do that until I know we're safe.

Then Kara moves forward, keeping as silent as possible, and moves some of the boxes to crouch next to us. Her body shivers slightly, in nerves. Skye breaths out shakily.

"What do we do now?" Kara asks in a barely audible voice. I move slightly, sitting down on the floor with my back against the wall. It's not exactly comfortable, but it's where I'm at right now.

"We wait until the truck stops. It should hopefully take us far enough away." I whisper back. "Okay? So try to get some rest."

"That's our plan?" Skye asks incredulously. "Seriously?"

"It's the only one we have." I murmur back to her.

"So we're just going where? Wherever this damn truck takes us?" She shakes her head in disbelief. "Forget about the highway to hell. This is the highway to nowhere."

"At least we should lose HYDRA's tail." Kara spins the positive. Skye doesn't argue against that as she sighs, starting to lie down on the floor, making herself as comfortable as she can considering we're in the dark, surrounded by boxes on a bumpy road, so the truck could chuck us to the other side at any given moment.

"I miss my van." She mutters. "I miss my van."

She flicks her hair out of the way, making a pillow for herself on her arms. She's facing away from me so even if I could see well in this dark, I can't see her face, so I don't know if her eyes are open or not. Knowing Skye, she probably doesn't trust us, so she'll be awake for as long as she can hold out.

"I'll take first watch." I offer to Kara, who nods without hesitation, before following Skye's lead by lying down on the ground, holding the backpack that contains the last of our possessions now close to her chest. She wraps her arms around it tightly, closing her eyes. I watch her for a moment or two before settling down to keep watch.

_Skye's here._ I think to myself. _Skye, the girl who shot me. Skye, Coulson's lap dog. Skye, the girl I used to – _used to –_ have feelings for._

Even though it feels weird having her here, I'm just going to have to get used to it. Because not only is HYDRA hunting Kara and I: they're hunting Skye as well.

* * *

My eyes blink open, feeling tired and stiff. I blink them a few times, before looking up, seeing the leafy branches arching high above my head, the faint light of early morning filtering through them. The rain from last night has stopped, but the ground still retains the moisture, so I feel uncomfortable and damp in my clothes. What I need is a shower, but when am I going to get time to have a wash? We're on the run, and we're currently in a forest of some kind. I carefully dust my shoulders off, dislodging fallen leaves and the single bug that took up residence on my shoulder with ease.

Last night, the truck stopped, so Kara, Skye and I made our run for it Unfortunately, the owner of the truck saw us just as we stepped off, and he chased off into the woods with threats of calling the police. Luckily, we managed to outrun him before he could really see what we look like, so I doubt any police reports made will actually do much good. After that, we were exhausted, so Kara, Skye and I curled up under some trees in the mountains, and slept on the dewy grass.

I climb to my feet, swallowing drily. Skye and Kara lie curled up near me, both of them surprisingly still asleep, despite the hard and damp ground. But we're all tired, so it's not that surprising. Humans can sleep in the most strangest of places if they have to, and we're all used to not so good conditions by now: Skye was an unwanted orphan who lived in a van for most her life, and Kara and I were Agents of SHIELD. Compared to that, some people might even call this sleeping arrangement a welcome luxury. I glance around, still half asleep, seeing that the sky goes on for hours, and the trees are tall into the sky.

I frown, my tiredness forgotten as a strange feeling of déjà vu hits me. _I think I recognise this place._

I walk a few steps away from the girls, who are still curled up on the floor, and walk up the slight hill until I'm gazing over the land.

And then that's when I see it. The small, still standing cabin, built by hands in the middle of the woods.

"I know this place." I murmur, and Skye and Kara stir. They rub at their eyes, climbing to their feet.

"Grant?" Kara calls. "What's wrong?"

"I know this place." I repeat, my voice louder. My voice is a mixture of amazement and fear, because I remember this place.

"You do? How?" Skye says. I turn around to face them, swallowing. I never thought I would return here. To the place where it all went wrong. The place it all started, all so long ago.

_Out of everywhere that truck could have taken us, why did it have to be here? _It almost feels like this is fate. Destiny. I've never been one to believe that everything happens for a reason, but maybe there is something going on here. Because Skye is joining us, and we've ended up here, where maybe I can make Skye understand what made me Grant Ward.

"Grant?" Kara asks, frowning in concern. "Grant, where are we?"

I close my eyes briefly. _Why here? Why here? Of all the places, why here?_

"Welcome to Wyoming." I say without expression.


	12. Chapter 12: Let's Be Tent People!

**Next chapter guys! I was a little unsure about this chapter, but I think it turned out okay. It's a bit of a transitioning chapter, but it's helping to build up to the big plot that's nearly here.**

**I know I've said this for the last couple of chapters, but THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH for all the follows, favourites and reviews. Seriously, you are all amazing.**

**[And if anyone's wondering, I ****_will_**** get around to updating all my other fics, but I just keep getting all these new ideas for new fics, so I'm writing a few AUs that I'll post in the summer, and I'm trying to focus all the time that I'm not writing original work on Anchor. But my other fics aren't abandoned: I ****_will_**** be back!]**

**Anyway, enjoy this chapter, and please review at the end! I love hearing what you guys think!**

* * *

**CHAPTER TWELVE: Let's Be Tent People**

"Wyoming?" Kara blinks the sleep from her eyes. "How do you know that from…" She glances around. "A few trees, some grass and a cabin?"

"I spent 5 years of my life here." My voice is surprisingly calm, despite the crushing panic which mounts in my chest. This place is my worst nightmare come to life. "I built that cabin with my own hands, stealing supplies from other people. I had to learn how to survive here with nothing but a dog and the clothes on my back."

"This is where Garrett left you?" Kara, who is familiar with the story, pales visibly. I nod mutely, and Skye frowns, not understanding.

"Ward." Skye's voice is cold and cutting, right to the bone. "Tell me what you mean." Her fists clench and unclench: she's nervous about what my statement could mean. It makes sense: Skye doesn't like not knowing things, and she will instantly assume that it's something that could hurt her if she doesn't find out the reason. I'm at loathe to explain it to her though: this is where I was at my weakest. I allowed Garrett to mould me into what he wanted, and to be honest, I relished the lack of control being in Garrett's command gave me. I didn't have to think, I didn't have to act, he commanded and guided me. I didn't care what following his orders would do to me: all I cared about is that he gave me guidance when all I could think of doing was surviving.

But I know that I have to tell Skye the truth. Because I don't want to hide it anymore. Sure, I was weak: incredibly so, but isnt everyone at some point in their lives? Skye needs to understand that it wasn't desire to kill that made Grant Ward: it was the desire to have someone else in control again. Chrisitian had been in my head for so long, that after I tried to kill him, I was lost. So Garrett helped me. Even if his help lead me down a road of pain, death and betrayal, he helped me.

"Skye, you've read my file, right?" I glance at her, swallowing the familiar feelings of weakness that rise whenever I mention what I'm about to mention. _Weakness is not tolerated. _Garrett's words drift back to me. _Don't be weak, boy._

I ignore the words. _Sometimes you have to be weak, to be strong._

"What? Ward, start making sense." Skye half snaps.

"Let him talk!" Kara glares at Skye, who blinks in surprise at Kara's fierce words. "This is difficult for him, Skye, so please, just let him talk." Kara says, this time in a more calmer voice. She takes a few deep breaths to calm herself, the wind pushing her fringe out of her eyes, exposing her fried mask scars.

"When I was 15 years old, I drove all night from military school in a stolen vehicle and attempted to burn down my home." I say, my voice almost robotic. "I was arrested for arson, and then attempted murder when it was revealed that my brother Christian was in the house. While I was in juvie, a man named John Garrett came to me and offered me a way out. Otherwise, I could be looking to spending most of my life in prison." I continue talking, even as I see Skye frown. "So I let him break me out of prison, and he took me here. Since he was an active SHIELD agent, he didn't have any time to look after a kid. So he left me here with a dog, promising to be back in three months, if I could survive that long." I pause, swallowing again. "I next saw Garrett 6 months later."

"I don't get it." Skye says slowly, still not understanding what I mean. Luckily, Kara decides to step in and help. Which is good, because I don't think I can keep going.

"Grant met Garrett when he was 15. He was left here to survive, and Garrett would come back occasionally." Kara says, her voice calm. "So Grant had no other human contact other than him."

"I talked like a dog for a few weeks after I left." I add in. "Garrett hated it." The memories are not good ones: after Garrett told me that I was leaving the woods, after he told me to shoot my dog, he brought me to one of his nearby safehouses. After seeing that I wasn't really social, that I was overwhelmed by the city with all it's noise after spending 5 years in the silence of the woods, he made me go into gas station after gas station until I could ask for directions without any form of grunting, stuttering or plain out panic attacks. It took 5 days of trying, but eventually I was able to do it. But it was hard, because I was used to only talking to a dog on a regular basis. It was the same with beds: I couldn't bear to sleep on the comfy matress, even though Garrett told me to get used to it: I could hardly sleep on the floor at the SHIELD academy, could I? It would raise questions.

"So when all you SHIELD people told him that he should have abandoned Garrett, how could he? He'd been with Garrett for 15 years." Kara continues, her disgusted voice showing exactly what she thinks of SHIELD right now. "Of course Grant would stick with him, through out it all."

"That's… crazy." Skye says. "Why didn't you just run away, Ward? You had to know that he was crazy."

"Run where?" I ask her without expression. "Back to juvie? Where I'd get done for attempted murder?"

"I'm sure that was better than serving Garrett." Skye points out, but I shake my head.

"Garrett was crazy, yeah, but he was better than my family." It's hard for me to say this, but I keep talking. Kara pats my shoulder comfortingly. Her support gives me strength to continue on. "With Garrett, if I did everything right, he'd be okay. But with my family, my behaviour had nothing to do with it. I could be punished just for looking at my mother wrong, or maybe just looking too happy would piss of Christian. So I had no wish to run away, because here in the woods was better than whatever awaited me outside them."

* * *

Kara, Skye and I walk towards the cabin, and a strange feeling fills me. The clearing where I spent 5 years of my life seems different: maybe because I'm older now, and it doesn't scare me as much. When we enter the cabin, I realise that it's smaller than what I remembered, but I can still imagine Buddy sitting on the floor with me.

I swallow my feelings down, just as Garrett taught me in these very woods. _Weakness is a distraction._

* * *

We spend the next week in the woods, sleeping on the hard ground. Skye grimaces everytime she lays her head down on the dewy grass for the first few days, but then she stops. I scout the area, and I steal food and supplies from other cabins nearby. It feels oddly familiar, as I bring home odd bits and bobs for us to eat. Luckily for me, stealing has become much easier for me, so I manage to slip in and out without anyone seeing me.

I check over the cabin, noting the rotting around it. I can't fix it with the materials I have here: the wood's not salvagable. The whole back wall is basically mush, so I would have to completely rip it down to save this cabin. Which is annoying, because we could really do with a safe roof over our heads right now. It hasn't rained yet, but we can't count on that lasting long.

Kara hasn't adapted to the woods as well as Skye and I have: she's still a city girl, regardless of her SHIELD training.

"I think we can get to the nearest town." Kara tells us eagerly. "Pick up some _real_ food. Maybe find a shower in a motel or something?"

I shoot her a mock offended glare. The food I've stolen for them isn't _'real_ food'?

"But what if HYDRA still come for us?" Skye asks. "If we stay in a town, they could find us, even if we've moved over several states from the last location they saw us. HYDRA are crafty, and they are everywhere." Her point is valid, but I've already thought of a plan.

"We'll just stay out here in the woods." I shrug, like the answer is obvious. Because to me, it is. No-one will come to find us out here, and it's safe. There's plenty of places to run, plenty of places to hide in the woods. I should know: in the 5 years I spent here, I pretty much mapped out the whole place in my head, so I know how to disappear into these trees, as tall as the sky.

"But I can't sleep on the floor for much longer!" Kara complains. Skye and I share a smile, until we both freeze, and move our eyes off each other. We're still enemies, remember?

* * *

Our solution to Kara's problem is a tent. Or to be exact, two tents. One for the girls, and one for me. The only problem to our solution? We need money.

We take Skye to an internet café in the small town just outside the woods, where she plugs in her laptop charger and starts to hack. It's the best way to get cash fast, other than stealing, and none of us want to risk that. So we rely on the hack.

"What are you doing?" Kara leans over to watch Skye as she scrapes her hair behind her ears, frowning in concentration. Meanwhile, my eyes move around the café, lingering on everyone with suspicion. I can't help but feel like everyone is watching me, and that they're judging me, even if they really aren't.

"I'm hacking into some rich guy's account." Skye mutters. "So we can get some funds into an old bank account of mine."

"Won't SHIELD be able to track that?" My paronoia rockets high. But Skye shakes her head, her fingers moving like lighting over the keys. It almost feels like the old days: her hacking her way in, and then calling on me to 'take out the trash'. But it's not the old days. It's the new days, and nothing is certain anymore.

"SHIELD don't know about this account, so they won't be looking for it." She assures me. Still, my paranoia still bubbles high.

"So if we buy tents, we can't live in them forever!" Kara says. "And I don't want to be a tent person forever, Grant." Her large eyes plead with me. "Don't make me become a tent person!"

"I'll repair the cabin." I say, the idea occuring to me suddenly. "I'll extend it out, make some more rooms, and then we can move into there. I only need to buy some quality wood, some tools and stuff. It shouldn't take long." Even as I speak, I can already map it out, and I start to feel a little positive about the whole situation. I haven't felt like this for a long time: who would have guessed that it would be the place where Garrett abandoned me that would make me feel this way?

"Are you sure?" Kara looks at me, knowing that the cabin holds a lot of bad memories for me. I nod assuredly. I'm perhaps the most assured about this idea than I have been for a while.

"It's the perfect solution." I tell her. Skye keeps hacking, not taking any notice of our conversation. "We need to figure out what to do next, and we need to hide. The cabin is the perfect place, and the woods are secluded so Skye can practise her powers."

At that, Skye's head snaps up.

"What?" She yelps. I can't help but grin at her shock at my comment.

"You have an ability, Skye. An ability that you have to harness, so you can protect yourself." My voice is surprisingly gentle. "So if you practise it in the wilderness, you can use it for good."

"My power is destructive." Skye says, her tone adamant. "Not helpful."

"Without your power, we would be dead or in HYDRA's hands right now." Kara butts in, her words frank. Skye flinches slightly, from her brusque tone I presume.

"If you're going to stay with us, you have to contribute something." I continue on from Kara's comment, my tone like hers. "Your hacking is one thing. But you have to also learn to control your powers. But-" I pause. I don't want her to think that we're scared of her ability, because strangely I'm not scared. Instead I'm just… accepting. Skye has a power, yes, which is very destructive, but it's also useful, something I can almost guarantee that Coulson didn't see. He saw her as something to be controlled, something to be fixed, because he wanted the old Skye back. I see her as a human, a dangerous human, but with the potential to become something that she's always been. A surviour.

"But we don't want to _fix_ you, Skye." I tell her. "Nor do we want to use you."

_We want to help you. _I can't bring myself to say those words. But I think that Skye gathers them from my eyes, as she nods slightly, the movement small: if you weren't looking, you'd miss it.

"I'll try." She promises. "But you have to promise me something too." Skye's fingers curl into her palms.

"What?" Kara questions curiously, as she smooths her fringe over her electrical scars. She, just like me, feels as if the people in this café are judging her, even though they aren't. Until we find a way to fix Kara's face, I doubt that we will ever find a way to reassure her.

"Don't be afraid of me?" Skye asks, biting on her bottom lip nervously.

"Why would we be afraid of you?" Kara frowns, not understanding even as I realise why Skye would have to ask that. SHIELD controls those who they fear, and I can only imagine what they must have thought about her after learning about her new abilities. They would only see the danger attached to her power, not the advantages. Because SHIELD don't use powers. They simply catalog them like animals.

"Because my power…" Skye stretches out her hands, her chocolate brown fixed upon them. "It's destructive. It hurts people. So when I try to control it, promise me that you won't ever look at me with fear."

Her eyes are scared. She's exposing a weak side to herself, and I know how much Skye hates appearing weak.

But for us all to start to trust each other, we have to expose that side of ourselves. No matter how much we don't want to. It's the perfect way to gain complete and honest trust.

Kara and I glance at each other, our decision already decided. It's the only logical decision. We're all outcasts here: so why must we all be lonely outcasts?

"We promise." We say in complete unison.

"I mean, if you can still look at me without cringing, I guess that's a good thing." Kara attempts for a smile. "Especially since I look like your old SO, right?"

"It is a little weird to see May's face smiling, I have to admit." Skye gives in and smiles hesitantly.

"Tell me about it." I join in the lighthearted conversation. "It's really weird." I pause. "Almost as weird as her damn Hello Kitty fetish."

"Hey!" Kara retorts. "Hello Kitty is cute! She is cute, you hear me? Cute!"

Skye and I laugh, and even though a part of me is still confused about how I feel about her being with us, a bigger part of me thinks that it might even be able to work.


	13. Chapter 13: Look Skyward

**I am _so_ sorry about the delay in updating. This chapter fought me every step of the way for some reason: I wrote so many starts for this chapter, but just ended up throwing them away. So I hope this chapter is okay.**

**Hopefully the next chapter will get posted sooner than this one, but no promises. The story's at that awkward part where I know _where_ it's going, but I have no idea _how _to get there.**

**Thank you to everyone who follows/favourites and reviews! **

**Please tell me what you thought of this chapter in a review! :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Look Skyward (Look Sky_e_ward)**

**_Gran_****_t_**

I aim my fist at the tree trunk in front of me, pressing my clenched hands to the rough bark gently. I repeat the motion with my other hand, my brows furrowing slightly as I keep up the exercise, again and again.

We've been out in the woods for nearly three weeks now, and I still can't shake the feeling of Garrett's eyes on me off my back.

This place is his. It's his domain, it's where he had power. So it's only natural that I would feel a little spooked out in these woods.

Skye's presence doesn't help. Even though we've come to a mutual agreement that we won't say anything bad about the each other out loud, I don't like her presence around me. Every time my eyes land on her, I can feel the bullet scars embedded deep into my flesh itch. She doesn't trust me, and I don't trust her. It's not a healthy environment to be in, day in, day out.

"Still working out?" The person herself says nervously from behind me. I don't move from where I keep aiming my fists at the tree trunk, keeping my guard up in between punches.

"I have to keep up my training, Skye." I answer her, not moving my eyes to her. Skye's footsteps move around me, until she's standing in the edge of my peripheral vision. "We may be out here in the woods, but we can still be attacked at any time. So I don't want to slack."

"Is that why you worked out in Vault D?" Skye asks, and my eyebrows flicker slightly. Still, my lips remain firmly shut. "So you would be ready if something happened?"

"I worked out because I got bored." My voice is clipped as I rest the next fist against the wood for a few moments before switching. "Not so I would be ready for anything, so if you're about to insinuate that I was waiting for a chance to attack you all-"

"No, Ward!" Skye interrupts me. "Why do you always assume I'm going to verbally assault you or something?" She shakes her head. "You're so difficult, you know?"

"I'm difficult?" I shoot her an incredulous look. "Sure. I'm the difficult one."

"This is what I mean!" Skye throws her hands in the air. "Would you just shut up for a few moments, or will that go against your programming?"

For a few moments, I think she means my HYDRA programming; I think she's making another comment against my twisted loyalties. I open my mouth, about to protest, and then I realise that she's making a reference to her old nickname for me: Robot.

"I can shut up." I tell her after a couple of seconds.

"Good!" Skye says, and takes a few deep breaths of air. "See, Ward, we're on the same side now, right? Kara's side. We're not SHIELD, we're not HYDRA, we're just on the side of Kara."

I realise that Skye seems to have bonded quickly with Kara: the two girls don't really have much in common, but maybe it's because of circumstance over an actual like of each other?

"And right now, we haven't talked about this. About how we feel about this." She takes another deep breath.

"I don't like talking about my feelings, Skye." I tell her.

"I know, but we _have _to, otherwise we're just going to keep on acting like this." She insists. "A divided team is useless in the face of the enemy, right?"

I pause, glancing at her. Her brown eyes are so pleading, and innocent even though I know they're anything but. She looks genuinely honest about wanting to become a closer team, and even I know that if we're understanding of each other, this whole team idea might actually work.

I sigh, and step away from the tree, moving over to a dry, clear patch of ground. Sitting with my back against a tree, I sit down, my knees bent with my hands resting over them, and glance up at Skye.

"How do you feel about this, then?" I ask her. Skye walks over to me, thumping herself down to the ground next to me. She's sitting close to me, very close to me, and it reminds me of the old days. Then again, anything with Skye reminds me of the old days.

"I feel…" She trails off. "I feel like this is weird, you know? Because you're _Ward, _and this is just so… surreal, I guess? How do you feel?"

"It's weird, yeah." I agree with her. "Because last time we really met, I…"

"Came on a little strong?" Skye attempts for a joke, but our laughter sounds weak and forced. We sit in silence for a few more moments, before Skye hesitates. I glance at her with questions in my eyes. "Are you and Kara a thing?" She blurts out. "I wouldn't judge you if you are, and maybe you'd want to _be_ together, and I'm in the way. So if you two need some alone time – what I mean is…"

"That all sounded very confusing." I comment. "But did you ask if Kara and I were a couple? Because we're not."

"Not ever?" Skye blushes slightly. "I mean, she nursed you to health-"

"And that's all she did." I shrug. "Kara and I bonded as friends. I helped her by giving her purpose: something that now she doesn't need as much. And Kara helped me…" I trail off, thinking the words in my head. _Kara helped me get over you._

Skye seems to understand without my words, as she nods solemnly.

"At least she's helped you too." She says softly. "Because the way you got over me… it was scary, actually."

"I think the problem was that you were the first person I truly felt something not bad about." I admit to her, leaning my head back to rest against the tree. "With my siblings, it was hate towards Christian, and I came to resent Thomas, because he was the cause of all my problems. Obviously, Garrett… I… it was sort of hate, but also a blind devotion. So when I found these feeling towards you developing… I kind of let it get out of control."

"That's true." Skye smiles, and I turn my head towards her. We're incredibly close, I realise again.

"But I wouldn't say that the feelings I had for you weren't real." My voice lowers as my eyes watch her chocolate brown ones. "Because they were."

"Very real." She finishes for me, her lips mere inches from mine.

We sit like that for a second that lasts for eternity, our mouths so close to each other, and my heart begins to beat faster. Neither of us move to close the gap, but Skye's hand comes up to tentatively touch my cheek.

Moments before her hand can touch my face however, Kara comes bounding into the trees. Skye and I scramble away from each other like we're on fire, and I try to shake off the weird dreamy state that nearly just convinced me to kiss Skye.

* * *

"I think if I work hard, I could have the cabin nearly repaired in a week or so." I comment over our dinner of stale pastry that Kara picked up last time we were in town.

"How long until the new part of the cabin's built?" Kara asks me, glaring towards our current homes, the tents. "I can help if you want."

"Maybe." My voice is uncertain. I want to do this by myself, it symbolises something to me. But if it starts to take too long, I'm going to have to let Kara, and maybe even Skye, help me with it.

Skye sits silently across from Kara and I, deep in thought. Silently, I wonder if she's freaked out by what nearly happened too.

I tell myself that it's only natural: I spent the best part of 6 months mooning over her when I was in SHIELD custody, and then I made it my mission to help her in the way I saw fit when I was out of SHIELD custody. Still, it doesn't make me feel much better.

"We'll need to head into town again soon." Kara speaks again, just as I realise that Skye and I aren't being good conversation right now. I'm silently staring at the floor and Skye's eyes are fixed on some distant point away. "Skye, don't you think?" Kara tries to involve her into a conversation.

"Mmmm." Skye makes a non-committal noise, still gazing off into the distance. Kara frowns at her.

"Maybe you could surf the net for SHIELD and HYDRA mentions." She suggests. "So we can be prepared."

Skye nods slowly, before getting to her feet.

"I'm tired." She announces. "I'm going to bed." As she speaks, she's already moving towards her and Kara's tent. Quickly, she unzips the door and steps inside, zipping it back up firmly from the inside.

Kara turns her gaze onto me.

"What the hell happened?" She demands. I blink, nibbling on one of the stale pastries. When we bought them, they were fresh. Now, after a few days, they're not. It wasn't my idea to by such a perishable food, but Kara claimed she needed them. But now I'm left with a load of food she doesn't want anymore, just like I thought would happen. I couldn't say no to Kara though: her gaze was so hopeful, so like a fool I agreed. I'm regretting that decision now.

"You're not allowed to buy these again." I tell her firmly.

"Stop dodging the question." She counters. "What's happened between you and Skye? Things seemed a little tense."

"Nothing happened." I'm not too sure if this is a lie or not. Technically, nothing _did_ happen, but something _could _have happened if Kara hadn't interrupted us.

Kara watches me with an eagle eyed expression, waiting to see if I'll crack. I stare back with an identical expression, and we just wait for the other to give in.

Neither of us do. We're both far too stubborn for that.

After a few moments, Kara sighs, getting to her feet.

"Fine. You want to keep it to yourself, you can do that. I don't care either way." She walks towards the tent, grimancing slightly. "Skye, I'm coming in." Kara calls as she starts to unzip the tent. A few seconds later, she's climbed in, zipping the tent up tightly behind her.

I let out my breath in a mist of cold air, closing my eyes briefly. I'm tired: I haven't slept properly for… well, months if I'm honest. Back in Vault D, I was awake even in my sleep, and since then, it's been a constant run for Skye, and then away from Skye. She's where my problems began, and where my quest to solve them always ends. It all comes back to Skye.

My sleep that night is fragmented, cut through with a mixture of memories and dreams. For the most part of it, I lie on my back, staring up at the tent ceiling.

_You fold a piece of paper just right, it gets sharp enough._

_Never turn your back on the enemy. _

_You taught me that._

_"__Where will we go now?" Agent 33's uncertain eyes are on mine. She's a blank slate right now: Whitehall's dead, so she has no idea where to turn. I'm her only option, and I think she's my only option. Whether I like it or not, we're stuck together. _

_Skye, Kara and I. We're all stuck together, because we have nowhere else to go._

I'm awoken by my tent door being unzipped, and I sit up to see Skye's face peering through the gap, looking panicked. I blink the sleep from my eyes quickly.

"Skye? What is it?" _HYDRA? SHIELD?_

"I couldn't sleep, so I just quickly went on my laptop." She explains quickly. "I charged it a few days ago, so it worked. But there's a problem."

"What?" My senses are on alert now. Skye's large brown eyes look fierce.

"I set a small blipper in SHIELD's computer systems, before I left. And it's just blipped me, because apparently, HYDRA has Mike." She says. "They have Mike, Ward!"

"Mike?" I frown, starting to move. Skye steps back so I can clamour out of the tent. "As in Mike Peterson, the cyborg with rockets in his arm?"

"The _man_ with rockets in his arm." Skye reminds me.

"The guy who tried to _kill_ me?" I shoot back at her.

"Anyway, HYDRA has him, and SHIELD's team isn't going there for a few more days." Skye says in a rush. "And the HYDRA facility… it's not that far away from here."

"What are you proposing Skye?" I say edgily, recognising the crazy look in her eyes.

"We could easily go there and rescue him!" She blurts out, the moonlight glimmering off her shiny eyes. "It would be easy with just us three, and if we leave it to SHIELD, they could get there too late." Skye looks at me, desperation in her eyes. "Ward, let's go rescue Mike Peterson."


	14. Chapter 14: Attack On HYDRA

**Hey, guys! Guess who's back!**

**I am _really_ sorry about the delay. A lot of things happened: writer's block for one, and the doom and gloom that is Season Three of AOS coming closer and closer.**

**I've decided that from now on, there's going to be a 'Progress Update' thing on my profile, so I can tell you guys if I've actually managed to write anything or if I'm struggling, so you're not just left hanging. So if it's been a while since the last update, check my profile!**

**This chapter has the first appearance of Kara's POV. I mainly threw it in there to help with my writer's block, but her POV will be pretty important to the overall story from now on. But Grant is still my main narrator so most things will still be in his POV.**

**I've actually written the next two chapters, but I need to figure out an updating schedule that allows me to actually write more chapters. At the moment, I'm thinking it might be a chapter every two/three/or four weeks, but I'm working to keep the wait as low as possible.**

**A huge thanks goes out to you all for your continued patience! I've really been looking forward to sharing this chapter with you, so if you enjoyed, please review!**

**(By the way, the title is an 'Attack On Titan' reference, which is a manga I really, _really_ love. Any other fans out there?)**

* * *

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: ATTACK ON HYDRA**

**_Kara_**

"You're crazy. Both of you are _crazy_." I say, chattering nervously as the car speeds through the night. "Like, _super_ crazy."

"Kara, calm down." Skye pats my knee in a gesture that's meant to reassuring. I shoot her a look.

"Skye, we're racing off into the night _back to HYDRA. _As in, the people who tortured and controlled me for months, and you want me to _calm down?"_ I shake my head at her, my leg bouncing up and down. "You're crazier than I thought."

"Kara, we'll be fine." Grant, ever the calm rock, tells me. He chucks a gun into my lap before resuming driving. "That's yours. Get acquainted."

I glare at the back of his head, wrapping my fingers around the gun. The surface is cold yet comforting.

"Mike needs us." Skye squeezes my knee again. "Kara, he's probably going through the same thing you did!"

"I went through the Faustus Method, Skye." I point out. "This Mike is just going to get another eye slapped in him. He's not going to have his entire _life_ wiped away from him with a flick of a finger."

I turn my head to gaze out of the window, biting down on my lower lip until the coppery taste of blood fills my mouth. I welcome the pain: it sharpens my mind, and it keeps me in control.

_Okay, Kara. _I tell myself firmly. _You can do this. You can walk back to HYDRA, and you can kick their butts._

"Since we're only a team of three, we'll probably manage to get in without incident." Grant says from the front. "Anyway, I think we can slip in through the back."

I can't help but snort.

"The back? What is this, some sort of convenient plot line?" I shake my head at him, even though he can't see it.

"We should aim not to shoot until we need to, to maintain the element of surprise." Grant continues, as if I didn't speak.

"Seriously, is this some sort of plot to a cliché action movie?" I glance at Skye, who's grinning at my antics. _At least I got her to smile._

"Skye, we'll be relying on you." Grant tells the woman. "Your powers could knock out a whole wave of people, so that'll be our back-up."

Skye nods, looking apprehensive.

"We've practised lots, remember?" I whisper to her. I've taken up the unofficial role of Skye's trainer in all things Inhuman, even though I have no freaking idea of what I'm doing. But hey, none of us do.

"I'm guessing we'll be relying on you for everything else?" I ask Grant. He nods.

"I'm the muscle. Kara, I want you to be the support." He says. "Remember, this is going to be pretty difficult, since there's only three of us. And if Mike can't move…" He shakes his head. "Well, that's not going to be pretty."

I bite on my lip again. _We're walking into the shark's mouth._

"And remember: if push comes to shove, just run." He finishes grimly. "Understand?"

Both Skye and I nod. We've already discussed the area, and have set up a few points to meet up. Still, I'm not confident. This will be my first 'mission' of sorts since I was Whitehall's pet, so I'm nervous. Blood fills my mouth again.

"Kara, you're bleeding." Skye tells me.

"Oh." I wipe my mouth. "Shit."

"Mike Peterson is our main objective, but if it's your escape over his life, you choose to escape." Grant looks at us through the mirror. "Understand."

"Yes, dad." I say sarcastically. Skye remains silent.

"Skye." Grant says.

"Fine." She sighs. "But I don't want to leave him there!"

"Skye, you're more important that Peterson." Grant says frankly. "So I want you to put yourself above his needs, get it? Otherwise, I'm going to go all berserker on your ass."

A smile twists Skye's lips up. A pang of jealously hits me, and I sink down into my seat. It's childish, but I can't help but get annoyed whenever Grant pays attention to Skye over me.

"And Kara?" Grant's brown eyes flicker to mine through the mirror again. "I expect you to get out safely." Worry is painted in those depths, and my jealously dissipates like a wispy cloud on a sunny day. Grant's worried about me. He cares about me.

"Make sure you don't die in there either!" I tell him. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Buy a house and fill it with Hello Kitty stuffed toys?" Grant teases me. I smile brighter now that his attention is on me.

"You know me so well."

* * *

Night passes into dawn, and I take over driving, so Grant can rest. Although I know he won't be able to sleep. I know him too well.

_I'll be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine._ It's a mantra in my head. My hands tighten on the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. I chew on the inside of my cheek.

HYDRA are my worst nightmare. They haunt me at every turn, and now I'm going back to them. I trust Grant to keep me safe, of course, but fear is still ever present inside my heart. What happens if HYDRA get me again?

_They won't._ The sensible part of my head tells me. _Because you are Kara Lynn Palamas. A kick-ass warrior, a terrible cook and a Hello Kitty fan._

The what if's still circle around my head, so I start to hum under my breath, trying to drown them out. What I hum is a mismatch of everything from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Taylor Swift's Blank Space. Anything that can distract me from the flashes of images.

_I can do this. We can do this. I am strong._ I continue to tell myself. _I'm not weak. I'm not Whitehall's anymore._

* * *

The base looms up high, and I can't help but gape. It's so obviously HYDRA, so why does no-one notice it?

A quick question to Skye tells me that they pretend it's a government building.

We abandoned the car a distance away, going on foot to skirt around the back of the base. Grant steps quickly and smoothly, not hesitating. I'm sure he's confident in this plan. He looks it, anyway.

It only takes us 15 minutes to get in through the underground pipe lines. I almost laugh at HYDRA's security. Then again, who exactly _wants_ to crawl into the belly of the snake?

The corridors are narrow and the walls are stuffed with wires and pipes. There's a dank smell in the air, and I try to ignore it as I breathe.

My body feels natural as we stalk through the dark, our way only lit with a torch. This – walking in secret – feels natural. It feels like I've been doing it all my life. But that's because I have. I just can't remember half of it.

Grant finds a door that leads to the liveable area of the base. He glances back at Skye and I.

_It's begun._

* * *

**_Grant_**

The door is metal and welded on to the hinges. There's an access pad next to it. I glance back at the girls.

"Skye, can you get us in?" I whisper to the hacker, who quickly darts forward. She glances at the security system.

"It's a basic four numbered code." She informs me. Kara keeps an eye out, her hand tight on her weapon. I hope she'll be able to deal with this: it's her first 'mission', after all. "What's a sequence of numbers that's important to HYDRA?"

I quickly type in the one date that everyone knows: the year HYDRA was founded. The door clicks open with a small noise. Skye smiles in satisfaction.

"We're in!"

The corridor we step into is quiet. I look around for the cameras, and I manage to locate them quickly. The next moments are filled with us creeping around corridors, as we get closer and closer to where Skye believes Peterson is being held.

Luck is with us since we don't run into any HYDRA members, but that only serves to heighten my suspicion. Why haven't we run into anyone? There should have at least been a grunt solider or two, unless the security in this base is lax. But knowing how HYDRA works, I very much doubt that. Something else must be going on: but what?

As we climb higher, my suspicion grows as no-one appears. I glance back at the girls and wonder if I should mention it to them. But I don't want to worry either Skye or Kara, and anyway, they've probably seen what I am: the absence of life.

The labs loom ahead of us, and a small amount of relief hits me as I finally see some HYDRA soldiers. They're armed and look like they're guarding the lab behind them – so chances are, Peterson's inside. And since there are soldiers here, that means that Peterson is likely to be here, since I was starting to think that HYDRA had evacuated the place.

Two quick silent shots later, and the guards are down on the floor. Skye winces at the sight of the bodies.

"Did we have to kill them?" She hisses. I nod.

"If we knocked them out, they could have come after us. This way, they're not bothering anyone." I look at the glass doors, seeing no-one in sight. _Yet._ I quickly ransack the bodies, pulling out the security cards so we can get into the lab. Kara picks up their weapons and we're about to move on when a crackle of a radio can be heard.

"Hermann, come in." The voice commands. Kara and Skye go dead next to me, barely even breathing. I stoop down and grab the radio.

"This is he." I drawl, hoping that I at least sound a little like the guard. There's a pause, and all I can hear is my heart beating. Are we done for?

"What's your status?" The voice asks me.

"Still all clear, sir." I inform. There's yet another pause.

"Good. I'll check in again in 15." The radio goes dead. I turn to look at the girls.

"We might have 15 minutes." I say. "So let's not waste them."

A swipe later, and the doors have opened. I go first, and we stalk through the tables until I see a few more guards. I take them out easily, and step up to the glass cage they were guarding.

"Mike!" Skye presses her hands up against the glass, staring at the man inside. He's lying prone on the bed, not moving an inch. _How are we meant to carry that weight out of here without being discovered?_ My mind races to find a solution.

"Mike!" Skye bangs gently against the glass.

"Shhh!" Kara hisses, looking around. She's edgy, I can tell.

Skye's calls are enough to rouse Peterson from his state, since he starts to sit up, a frown etched onto his features.

"Skye?" He asks. His eyes flicker to me, and his jaw clenches. Too late, I realise he thinks I'm HYDRA.

"Skye, get him out of there." I tell her. "Kara, watch the door." I move towards a computer, quickly scanning through the files for anything they might have done to Peterson, so we know what we're dealing with. When I find nothing, I cast my eyes around for a paper file of some sort. _There has to be something._

"Smash the glass?" I hear Kara suggests to Skye.

"That'll alert them!" Skye hisses back.

And then, a bomb goes off.

Far into the distance, a huge explosion can be heard, and Kara nearly jumps three miles into the air.

"What was that?" She nearly screeches.

"I don't know." I tell her. "But we need to move. Screw secrecy. Break the glass."

Finally, I find what we're looking for: the file, strewn on a table. I fold it up and shove it into my pocket as Skye tells Peterson to stand back. She crosses the room and heaves up one of the stools by the tables before she hurls it towards the glass. Peterson instinctively ducks, but-

Nothing happens.

The stool bounces off the glass, clattering to the floor.

"All units, report to Point A!" A voice crackles over the intercom. Clearly whatever that explosion was, it's an attack of some sort. Which could mean one of two things: HYDRA will be distracted so we can escape, or we'll run into more soldiers on our way out. Knowing our luck, it's going to mean the latter.

"Earthquake it!" I order Skye. She looks tentative, glancing at her hands with a strange look of fear.

"I'll hurt him!" She protests. "I can't control it, remember!"

"It's are only way!" I can hear footsteps. We don't have time for this.

"You can do it." Kara squeezes her shoulder.

"I'll stand way back?" Peterson guesses.

"Shield yourself with the bed." Skye suggests. In a simple movement, Peterson has lifted up the bed and is crouched behind it.

"Do your shit, Skye!" He yells. Skye spreads out her arms, reaching towards the glass.

"Feel the vibrations." Kara whispers. "You can do it."

Skye closes her eyes. The footsteps get louder.

"Skye, do it! We don't have any time left!" I shout at her. I grab my gun, and aim it at the doors. I have to take out as much of them as possible. Kara copies my position.

"We're all waiting on you." I chuck over my shoulder to Skye. She takes a deep breath.

And then suddenly, everything shatters.

Skye screams as she directs her power at the glass, scrunching her eyes up tight. At the same time, soldiers notice us inside the lab, and Kara and I fire, taking out a few as they come.

"Duck!" Skye yells at us, and instinctively, we do. She directs her hands at the HYDRA soldiers, flinging them back. Some of them crack their heads against the concrete. I'm sure most of them died.

Peterson steps out of his cell, dusting off some debris off his shoulders. His feet crunch the already shattered pieces of glass on the floor, and he rolls his shoulders, looking pleased to finally be free. I give him a once over look, and see no obvious injuries, so we don't need to carry him out of here. The last thing we need is for Peterson to become a hindrance.

"Let's go." I say grimly.

* * *

Bodies litter the corridor outside, and Skye looks sick as she gazes at the wreckage she created. As I thought, most of them are dead, the force of the blast having snapped their necks. The remaining few who are only knocked out don't move, so I figure we have time to step past them before they wake.

"I did this." She murmurs, her footsteps slowing. She gives her hands a disgusted look.

"We don't have time for self-reflection, Skye." I grab her shoulder and shove her along harshly. Skye blinks at me.

"Don't treat her like that!" Peterson tells me, stepping up to see if Skye's okay. I growl in annoyance: do these people know anything about escaping?

"Come on." I point down the corridor, back from where we came. "We have to move."

"Grant's right." Kara starts to move, breaking out into a small run as she jumps over debris. "Let's go!"

Skye shakes herself off, and we start to move. But as we get to the door that would take us back underground, we find that the explosion must have been closer than we thought, since the exit is blocked by some of the ceiling. I swear violently.

"This isn't good." Peterson observes. I hand him one of the guns we took off the guards, looking him up and down.

"You're strong, right?" I ask him. There's only one way out of this now. Peterson nods slowly.

"Why?"

"Me and you are going first. Kara, Skye: you guard our backs." I say, before abruptly turning back towards the lab. Kara nods, and Peterson falls into stride next to me.

"What's your deal now?" He asks me in a low voice.

"Is this really the place to discuss this?" I growl back, my eyes darting around.

"Answer me."

"I'm on Kara's side." I tell him, even though we shouldn't be making any noise right now. "She was brainwashed by HYDRA, and I ended up saving her. We'll exchange more details when we're out of the enemy zone."

The only way out ends up being up. We don't run into any HYDRA soldiers, which yet again heightens my suspicion. Whoever let off that bomb must be causing trouble, then.

White corridors start to become stained with grey, and I stop suddenly when I see the sight in front of me.

There's a huge hole in front of us. Like a part of this winding corridor has been cut clean away, exposing the dark night outside to us. Flames fill the air, and smoke starts to creep towards us. Skye hits into my still form, as I keep staring. Not at the flames, not at the fight raging on a few meters away, but at the people standing in front of us, their weapons aimed.

"Skye!" Coulson yells.

"Coulson?" Skye steps out from behind me, lowering her gun. He however keeps it aimed, like Kara and I. I don't check Peterson's status.

On Coulson's side, May keeps her gun trained on me, along with some unfamiliar faces. One familiar face glances at me: Leo Fitz. My breath catches slightly in my breath, remembering the last time I saw Fitz. When he tried to kill me in my cell back in Vault D.

"Skye!" Coulson looks relieved. "We finally found you!"

"Skye, step away from Ward." May calls her order. "Don't let him get too close to you."

"Come on, Skye!" One of the unfamiliar men call. "Come here, love!"

Skye blinks in confusion, frowning at them.

"What?" She falters.

"Skye, come here!" Coulson says. "We've been looking for you, ever since you disappeared!"

"I knew you'd kidnapped her, Ward." May growls. I nearly roll my eyes: of course I'm getting blamed for Skye's free choice. But what did I expect from SHIELD?

"Wait, Grant didn't kidnap me!" Skye speaks again, looking indignant. "I left because you all treated me like a loose cannon!"

"Is he making you say that?" May takes a step forward. I raise an eyebrow.

"One more step, and I'm blowing your kneecap off." I inform her, dropping my aim to her knee. May stiffens.

"Skye!" Coulson shouts. "We know Ward's forcing you to stay with him. But it's okay now. You're safe."

Skye takes a step – but it's not towards Coulson. It's back towards me.

"I am safe." She says, stepping closer to me again. "Coulson, I'm not coming back to SHIELD."

Silence echoes across their faces.

"That's right, I'm shooting him." May says grimly before she presses down on the trigger.

"No!" Skye yells, throwing her hand forward. She knocks the bullet clean out of the air, sending it flinging to the side. I stare at her.

"Thanks." I say before returning to my aim.

"Great work, Skye!" Kara cheers, apparently not concerned in the slightest about SHIELD in front of us. "I knew you could control it, at least a little bit!"

"Skye…" Coulson starts slowly as he edges forward. "Skye, you need to come towards me. Okay?"

"Why?" Skye tilts her head to one side. Coulson blinks at her.

"Love, come on!" The unknown man yells again. "He's a bleeding psycho!"

"Shut it, Hunter!" Skye snaps.

"Skye." Coulson says again, extending a hand. "Come on. May can shoot him. You can come free."

I tighten my grip on my gun. I'll kill May before I'll let her kill me.

"Don't sweat it, Grant. I'll deal with this." Skye touches my arm as she takes a big step forward. Relief briefly shows on Coulson's face again.

"A.C, you know I love you guys." She begins. "But I can't come back to SHIELD."

"Skye-" May begins.

"SHIELD rejected me." Skye continues as if May didn't try to speak. "You made me feel unwanted, like a specimen because of what happened in Puerto Rico."

"Skye, come home." Coulson tried again. Skye keeps going.

"So no, I'm not going to come home." She juts her chin out. "Because I _am_ home." She takes a deep breath, coughing a little. "My name is Skye, and I'm a powered person, Kara's best friend and a hacktivist."

I can't help it. I groan out loud.

"Kara, why is Skye repeating who she is?" I say to Kara while keeping my eyes on May and the others.

"Sorry." I can hear a grin in her voice.

"Skye, stop this nonsense and come home!" May yells, losing her cool a little bit.

"She doesn't have to do anything." Peterson steps forward. He's glaring at May, I see. "Skye can stay wherever she wants."

"Mike! We were just coming-" Coulson starts.

"I'm staying wherever Skye is." Peterson cuts him off. "And if that's with these people, that's where I'll stay."

I have no idea what is happening.

"Ward's brainwashed you hasn't he?" May growls at Skye. "Don't worry, I'll deal with him."

"Grant hasn't brainwashed me." Skye glares. "He's just trying to help."

"Help himself, you mean." Hunter snorts. "Love, you told me that man had some mad delusional obsession with you."

I clench my jaw, but continue to let Skye deal with this. She seems to be handling it fine anyway.

"Look, Coulson, I wasn't 'kidnapped'. I chose to leave: just ask Fitz." She gestures to the Scottish man. "I appreciate your concern, but if you really cared about me, you'd let us go." Her eyes are pleading.

"Skye, you know I can't do that." Coulson tells her gently. "Either you come willingly, or we're going to have to take you forcibly."

Skye stiffens. I can tell what she's thinking: _you'd do that, to me of all people?_ It seems like Skye's finally realising what it's like on the other side.

But she doesn't back down, even though I half expect her to.

"We're leaving." She says firmly. "And since you won't let us go willingly, well…" She shrugs, a small smile spiralling to life over her lips. "We'll just have to _make _you."


	15. Chapter 15: Spilling Truths

**The next update! Yes, these chapters are going to be monthly, just because it's literally taken me a month to write chapter 17. I'm a pro at procrastination, but at least you guys know that you're going to get at least two more chapters guaranteed. **

**I've recently noticed that I'm two reviews away from 100 - and Anchor has the highest amount of reviews I've ever gotten. So thanks to everyone who's reviewed in the past, and maybe we can actually get to 100 reviews this chapter? So if you enjoyed, please leave me a little review in the box below!**

**(Small Note: in the future chapters of Anchor, there's going to be a little bit of anti-Coulson stuff: nothing too major, since Skye will always believe in Coulson, but Kara and Grant are both highly against Coulson at the moment. But don't worry, Coulson's not the enemy in Anchor, so any negative things written about him will pass eventually).**

* * *

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN: SPILLING TRUTHS**

_**Grant**_

"Ow!" Peterson yelps as Kara dabs at his shoulder. She pulls a face at him.

"You're being a baby." She informs him, continuing to dab at the wound. Peterson yelps again, but Kara doesn't comment this time.

"I can't believe we just did that." Skye murmurs from where she's dabbing at a few scratches on her hands. We're back in the cabin, dawn having arrived after we somehow survived our fight with SHIELD. Although I'm pretty sure Skye was the main reason we lived: with her as a shield, they couldn't risk hurting us. I make a noise of agreement.

"You know that SHIELD are still going to believe I kidnapped you, right?" I glance at her, and Skye looks guiltily back.

"Sorry about that." She apologises. "If I hadn't joined you and Kara, SHIELD would have no reason to suspect you of anything."

"SHIELD would have found _something _to tie me to your disappearance." I say grimly. "They have it out for me."

"Not without good reason." Peterson mutters. Kara scowls at him.

"Hey!" She hits his shoulder, and Peterson yelps.

"That hurt!" He protests.

"Grant has made some mistakes, but you can't just blame him again." She tells him sternly. "He's also done some good things too."

"What 'good things'? Because last I heard, he was HYDRA." Peterson spits. Kara's scowl deepens.

"Well, he's not anymore!" She says.

"I was never HYDRA." I correct. "I was just loyal to Garrett, who also wasn't truly HYDRA."

"And that's supposed to make this all better?" Peterson laughs drily. "Skye, how can you trust this sociopath?" He turns to Skye. "He's just going to stab us all in the back. Once a traitor, always a traitor."

"If you want to stay here, I don't want to hear any of that." I inform him in a calm voice. "The only reason I led that rescue mission was because Skye wanted it, and after knowing what they did to Kara, I couldn't leave you." I pull out the crumpled medical file out of my pocket, and begin skimming through it. "This should have the details of anything they did to you, so we should be able to see if you're a risk to anyone."

"Grant's not working for HYDRA." Kara says. "He saved me."

Peterson gives her a look.

"That psycho can't save anyone." He retorts. "Because he's _evil,_ you hear me?" Abruptly, Peterson gets to his feet and stalks off into the woods.

"I'll go talk to him." Skye murmurs before scrambling to her feet, calling "Mike!" after him, leaving Kara and I alone.

"Did we make the right choice?" She asks immediately, her dark eyes blinking innocently at me. "Bringing Mike here, I mean. He hates you."

"He would." I stare off into the distance.

"But you helped him escape! Doesn't that count for anything?" Kara sound enraged.

"It doesn't make up for all the mistakes I've made." I shake my head. "And now that SHILED know that I have both Skye and SHIELD, they'll be coming for me from now on. They think I've taken them in some sort of revenge plot."

"But you didn't!" Kara bursts out. "Why won't they believe you?"

"Because in their eyes, I'm evil, Kara." I turn to face her. "Any way you put it, I'm the big bad wolf. I betrayed them, I killed people, I spied on them."

"Others did that, yet they're okay with them! It's a total double standard." Kara folds her arms.

"Kara-"

"No! All they go on about is how you should have confessed early on, and how could you betray them all, but they don't even try to understand! You were-"

"Don't make excuses for me, Kara!" I interrupt. "I am not good. I chose to follow Garrett, although I had no other choice. But I still chose to kill for the man. And that can never be forgiven."

"They kill too!" Kara climbs to her feet, her eyes blazing. "So why is it okay for them?"

"Because they're killing their enemy." I answer her tiredly. Kara, in a way, is very closed minded when it comes to SHIELD and I. She doesn't understand the inner workings of why _I'm_ a bad guy, whereas someone else, like May, isn't. I only understand it as that she did everything she did for SHIELD, whereas I did it for Garrett.

"And that's all you did too!" Kara points out. "They're refusing to understand you, Grant. Instead, they just want to kill you or lock you up. How is that fair?"

"It's not, Kara." I tell her finally. "If things had gone a little differently, SHILED might have been the bad guys and HYDRA the good guys. But a situation like this still would have developed, because I would still be a double agent for _the wrong agency_. And they're never going to look past that, although I wish that they could."

"I wish that they could see the man I see." She says quietly. "The one who made sure I didn't lose my mind after what Whitehall did to me."

"To them, I shaped you into an instrument I could use."

"But you didn't! A million times, I begged you to give me guidance, and instead you always forced me to find my own way of living! You told me to rely on myself instead of you! Anything I've done, it's my own free will." Kara says passionately. Then she sobers for a moment. "But they'll never see it that way, will they? Because they think you're evil, and they think I'm weak."

"No-one thinks you're weak, Kara." I assure her.

"They do. Because I 'let you control me'." She refuses to buy into my assurances. "They think I'm easily swayed, but that's because they didn't experience what I did. I was ripped from that safe house, and I was sat in that machine for a week before I cracked." She shivers.

"Kara, don't think about that right now." I tell her, frowning slightly. Kara hasn't really spent much time talking about her brainwashing, and I don't want her to push herself too quickly.

"Grant, I want you to do something for me." She takes a deep breath.

"What?" I look at her.

"I want you to help me find out why this all happened to me." She tells me. "Grant, I want to find out why my safe house was found, and why no-one came to rescue me."

It's silent for a few seconds.

"Are you sure?" I ask. Kara nods firmly.

"I need to know the truth. I can't keep wondering why I was unlucky. I have to find out why."

* * *

"Kara wants to find out the truth." My words are murmured as Skye and I sit outside the tents, looking out into the night sky. It's some hours later, and Peterson still is distrustful of me, but then again, I'm the same of him. He's took my tent, so I'm pulling an all night long watch. In the morning, we plan to get Peterson he's own massive tent, since he's really too big. Skye turns to glance at me.

"Is that a good thing?" She asks, scraping some of her hair behind her ear. I pause.

"I don't know." I answer honestly. "The truth might help her get closure. But I…"

"You don't know if the truth might hurt her more than it would help." Skye supplies, and I nod.

"Kara's like… the first best friend I've ever really had." I say slowly. "And if the truth hurt her in any way… I can't beat up the truth. So all I would be able to do is comfort her."

"That's what friends do." Skye nudges my shoulder.

"But what if the truth reduced her back to the state Whitehall left her in?" I voice my fear. "Skye, you didn't see what it was like, having to help her regain her life. It was so hard to tread the line between manipulation and gentle prodding in the right direction. And…"

"You're not sure if you can do it again." She finishes my sentence for me.

I nod.

"I want Kara to be happy, and I'm afraid that finding out the truth is going to do the opposite."

"Well, you can't protect her forever, Ward." Skye tells me.

"I don't want to." I make sure she understands. "But I don't want to have to help her pick up the pieces again. She's so fragile that even one betrayal could completely knock her off her feet."

"Hey, Ward, you're a dad!" Skye laughs lightly. I frown in confusion at her.

"Come again?"

"Kara's like your daughter, and you're like her dad who wants to keep her safe forever." Skye laughs again. "That's pretty sweet actually."

"I bet you never thought you'd say that to me." A small smile tugs on the corners of my lips.

"I know: Grant Ward, being sweet? That's crazy talk." Skye smiles, shaking her head gently. We lapse into a small comfortable silence for a moment.

"Hey Grant?" She asks. "Do you think we ever could have made it? Do you think we could have been happy, if we met in a reality where you weren't a traitor?"

I think over my answer, ignoring the painful constrictions on my heart.

"Maybe." I say. "If we lived in a world where I was just Grant Ward, and you were just Skye. If there was no HYDRA or SHIELD, I suppose we could have lived a nice life together." I glance at her. "Why'd you ask?"

"I was just wondering." She shrugs, looping her arms over her legs. "I barely got to realise if I loved you or not before I found out the truth. We had like 10 minutes of bliss before it was shattered. Do you ever regret it?" Her brown eyes hover on me.

"I don't know what I regret." Nothing but the truth drips from my mouth. "Sometimes I think if I hadn't gone to juvie when I was 15, I would have gone to the military. Or maybe SHILED would have picked me up anyway, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder what could have happened if I told Coulson the truth when you were shot. Or what if you didn't alert the others to my betrayal." I shake my head. "But I can't change the past."

"Why did you try to burn down your home?" Skye asks quietly. I let out a small laugh.

"It was a house, not a home." I correct her. "The word home implies that you're safe and loved there, and neither was true of that hell hole."

"So why did you return?" This is a rare opportunity for me to tell Skye my side of the story. Not that I want it to change anything, because it won't. But I at least want her understanding.

"…I had a phone call." I start. Skye listens. "From my younger brother Thomas."

"Did he ask you to help him, or something?" She asks when I take a very long pause.

"No. He told me that I was a jerk, and that he hated me for doing everything that Christian wanted to him. He told me I was no longer his brother." I smile humourlessly. "So I drove there to try and convince him that I was sorry."

"How does that lead to you burning the place?" Skye asks.

"Thomas wasn't home. Christian was alone. I was angry and tired, so I thought, what better way to show Thomas how sorry I was than to burn the place down with Christian inside? It was stupid." I keep smiling without humour. "Thomas didn't appreciate the gesture. After that, I had only one conversation with him, over the phone in juvie. He told me that I really must be insane and hung up."

Skye is silent.

"When Garrett came, I really had nothing else other than him or prison. No one would be waiting for me on the outside, so what was the point?" I say, my tone brittle.

"That doesn't justify anything you've done since, though." Skye says quietly.

"I know."

"So why did you tell me that story?" She's glaring at me. I frown. "Was it to make me pity you, or something?"

"Why are you getting angry right now?" I'm confused.

"Because you're trying to get me to forgive you!" She half yells. "With all this 'I had no choice' crap. With that stupid almost kiss-" She cuts herself off suddenly. I shift my body so I'm facing her head on.

"Wait, is this all because of that?" I ask. "Because I'm sorry about that. I don't know why I tried to kiss you, but it won't happen again. And to set this record straight, I did _not_ tell you about the fire because I thought it'd get you to forgive me." My voice is raising louder now. "If I wanted that, my hopes would be crushed right now because what's more horrible than being left alone in these woods for 5 years with just a dog that was my best friend before _I shot him!"_

"Then why didn't you just stay with SHIELD back there? Oh wait, I remember. It's because they hate you too, so you have nowhere else to go than to be stuck with me." I say mockingly. "How horrible for you, Skye. But I'm stuck with you, and the stray cyborg you wanted to rescue."

"If you didn't want Mike, why'd you do it?" Skye's full out yelling now. The others are stirring awake from our noise.

"For you, Skye!" I yell back. "Because when it comes to you, I still can't tell you no!"

"Why can't you get over me?" She practically screams back.

"I've tried! But being in love with you isn't just something I can switch off! I've tried, but I can't help how I feel!" The words spill forth from my traitorous lips. I've tried so hard to not be in love with her, but now the truth has escaped me. I was a fool to ever believe that I could stop loving Skye. Because even though I don't want to act upon those feelings, _they are still there. _And I can't stop feeling them.

Skye blinks, staring at me. We both breathe heavily.

"What's with all the noise?" Kara peeks her head out, rubbing at her sleepy eyes. "I'm tryin' to sleep!" She complains.

"Sorry, Kara." I call to her. "We just had a little disagreement, that's all." I try to calm my beating heart. Skye looks flustered.

"Well, disagree quietly from now on!" Kara tells us sternly. "People are tryin' to sleep!" She pulls herself back inside her tent, zipping up the door firmly.

For around three minutes, it's completely silent.

"I'm a little rattled from seeing Coulson." Skye says eventually. "I'm sorry I accused you of trying to make me forgive you."

"I know that's never going to happen, Skye. So all I can do is show you what I'm like without Garrett or SHIELD or HYDRA, so you can make your mind up about the 'real me'." I gaze off into the night sky.

Some moments later, Skye gets up to go to bed, and I'm left alone in the cold air of night. I close my eyes briefly.

I can't hide from the truth any longer. I'm always going to love Skye, but I'll be damned if I let that control me. Just because I love her doesn't mean I want to be with her. This love is… an inconvenience. Something I'm going to ignore, because it's never helped me before.


	16. Chapter 16: Fallouts Hurt

**Hey, peeps!**

**A huge thanks to all my loyal reviewers: I've currently got 107 reviews! Yay!**

**As has become the norm with this fic, I've hit some writer's block. This, I think, is because _Anchor_ is relatively 'nice' compared to this original piece I'm writing, so _Anchor _seems almost annoyingly mundane to me compared to that, since my original piece is has a more uncertain outlook on the events.**

**But I'm trying to power through the block (as usual) and seeing the amount of people following this helps, since I want to keep the updates flowing for you guys. **

**I just published a heavily AU one-shot on a younger Grant, so if you haven't read that yet, please do!**

**One more small note: **I posted a link to my tumblr on my profile, which leads to a page with my thoughts on the show's decisions with Grant's character. While my opinions are written a little... eh, what's the word?... like I'm very angry, I still think they can shed some light on why I write Grant like I do. So if you're at all curious, go to my profile to check out the page!

(Also, there's a small section on my thoughts on Skye on the page, so... same as above).

**Finally, the opinions expressed by both Skye and Kara in this chapter are not influenced by my views. I felt that this is how the characters would feel, so prepare yourselves for a few... _questionable_ views.**

**As always, enjoy, and please leave a review at the end! I love reading what you guys think, and even though I'm really shit at answering reviews, I appreciate each one! :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN: FALLOUTS HURT**

**_Kara_**

"Skye, we have to talk." I corner the other woman while she's combing her damp hair through with her fingers, sitting on the floor. Clearly, she just washed her hair in the river, something that we're all having to do for the time being. Grant's working with that Mike to finish up the cabin, so maybe we'll get to stop sleeping like homeless people soon. Even though, technically, we _are_ homeless people.

"Talk? About what?" Skye looks at me, seeming genuinely confused. I narrow my eyes at her, folding my arms across my chest. Is she pretending not to know? Does she think I'll buy the act?

"About your behaviour towards Grant." I jut out my chin. Skye flinches slightly at the words, so I know she knows what I'm about to talk about.

"So you heard us, last night." Her tone is dry.

"It was impossible _not _to." I tell her, glaring at her. "So why were you being a bitch to him?"

"I wasn't." Skye frowns at my language. She's probably wondering why I'm being all antagonistic towards her. She'd understand if she'd actually listened to herself last night.

"You were!" I argue back instantly. "Accusing him of trying to manipulate you when you were the one who asked him the question in the first point."

"Wait, how long were you listening for?" Skye starts to get to her feet, looking suspicious. "Were you _eavesdropping _on us?" She realises.

"That doesn't matter." I dismiss her. Anyway, what does it matter if I listened in a little? I woke up, and I wanted to make sure that Skye wasn't going to mess around. After all, I know her feelings towards Grant. "What matters is how you just jumped down Grant's throat, just so you could pretend that his words _didn't _affect you. You don't like that you've started to understand his actions!" I'm a little smug.

"Maybe!" Skye admits. "I don't know, Kara. It's just so… confusing." She drops her head into her hands. I frown, not liking how she's accepting my words. "Ward is evil in my mind, but seeing him now… I'm finding it hard to reconcile both of the images in my head. It's like this person isn't the one who betrayed me."

"Grant may have done some things in the past, but haven't you?" I point out to her, not backing down one inch. "You've killed too, I'm sure."

"Ward murdered those people!" Skye looks suddenly angry: clearly I struck a nerve with her. "I am _nothing _like him! _Nothing_, you understand?"

"And you've murdered people too!" I exclaim, also starting to get a little angry. "But I get it. Because it's in the name of SHIELD, it's fine." Sarcasm drips from my voice. "Because you killed people for the 'good guys'. It's such a double standard!"

"Kara, listen to me." Skye says fiercely. "Ward killed innocent people, like Eric Koenig. He garrotted that man and hid his body. I wouldn't have found out if there hadn't been a little bit of blood on him. So don't you stand there and claim that Grant Ward is the victim of a double standard. _Because he_ _is a murderer." _She hisses.

"You don't understand _anything, _do you?" I laugh mirthlessly. "Skye, when you got your powers, you let out a huge earthquake, right? An earthquake that _killed people._"

Skye's face freezes.

"It tore children from their families, murdered hundreds of innocents, it destroyed lives. Any of that sound familiar? That's exactly what you're accusing Grant of doing." I advance a step towards her. "So if Grant's a murderer, so are you." I hit her in the shoulder. "You're a terrible person, Skye. You act like you're blameless for everything you've done – after you made people _suffer – while_ having the cheek to suggest that Grant should still suffer for his crimes."

She's still, her eyes still frozen on me. It seems that I've rocked her to her core. A small smile tugs at my lips.

Good.

"You all locked him up in Vault D for months, torturing him. You left him _alone,"_ I hit out at her shoulder again, using a little bit more force and power this time. "Without _anyone _to talk to, and you expected him to remain _sane?"_ This time when I hit out at her, Skye catches my wrist, stopping me before I can touch her. Her fingers dig into my flesh.

"Kara, I don't know what you want me to say." She says quietly. "I didn't make up those rules. I didn't decide what Ward's fate would be."

"You supported the man who did." I spit at her. "Phil Coulson."

"Kara, think of it from my position." Skye urges. "It felt like Ward took my heart and crushed it in a simple move! It felt like he chose John Garrett and HYDRA over me, and the future we could have had!"

"And what do you think he felt?" I rip my arm free of her grasp, not wanting her to touch me any longer.

"You're too blind to see the truth." Skye shakes her head at me. "I'm not saying that Ward is still that person, but you have to acknowledge that he was evil. Otherwise, you're just ignoring the truth. You're just blindly obeying him – just like you did with Whitehall."

It goes silent for a moment. I stare at her.

Did she just go there? Did she just go_ there?_

Skye doesn't have chance to say anything else before my fist collides with her jaw. She reels backwards, holding her face.

"Don't you _dare_ say that." My voice trembles. "Don't you_ dare!"_

"Ah, crap." Skye sniffs. "Maybe I chose my words poorly-" She starts, but I don't give her time to continue, simply punching at her again and again. Skye starts to block me, and before I know it, we're in a full on fight.

"You don't even _know_ what being under his control was like!" I scream at her. "So don't you _dare_ pretend that what Grant and I have is _anything _like that!"

"There's no need to punch me!" Skye yells back, grabbing a fist full of my hair. I let out an ear-splitting screech as she yanks on it. "You're the one who just started confronting me over something that's between Ward and I!"

"You're a," I knee her in the stomach, using her surprise to push her to the floor. Jealously has reared it's ugly head, lending me strength in this fight. How dare she suggest that she has some kind of personal connection with Grant? How dare she say it's better than the one _I _have with Grant?

"Fucking bitch!" I go to punch her, now that she's on the floor, but Skye throws her hands up, and sends me flying. A wave of air hits against my body, pushing against it until I'm simply cast away like an unwanted toy. My back slams into the floor, and I go skidding, ripping up some of my skin due to the friction.

"Get a grip, Kara Lynn." Skye stalks over to where I lie. She towers over me, the sun a corona around her head. I go to get up; Skye extends a hand, and uses her vibrations to keep my paralyzed among the dirt and leaves. "You're pathetic." Her voice is cold.

"I'm...not!" It's a struggle to get words out, since with this pressure on my chest, I can barely even breathe.

"You need to acknowledge that Ward was evil, and that unlike you, I can't just blindly ignore that." She tells me, her voice still impassive. "And this conversation had nothing to do with you, so get out of my business!"

I gasp a breath of air. Skye doesn't seem to notice what she's doing to me. If she's not careful, she's going to end up killing me.

"Okay?" She gazes at me for a moment.

"I…can't…_breathe!"_ I manage to get out. Skye shrugs.

"Get a grip." She repeats before she walks away, finally releasing her hold on my chest.

It's a long while until I can move again.

* * *

I don't talk to Skye again over the next few days, instead focusing my energy on helping Grant and Mike with the cabin. She chooses to creep off into the forest to practise her gift alone. Today, Grant follows her, apparently worried about her spending all this time alone. Mike and I are left at the cabin.

"Err, Kara, right?" Mike speaks up a few moments. I nod, fidgeting nervously. "Can I ask you something? It's sort of personal."

"Okay." I nod again, apprehension bubbling up. I try to calm myself by moving some planks of wood.

"Your face. What's, err…" Mike trails off.

"Wrong with it?" I glance at him. Grant warned me about his 'x-ray vision', and it's not exactly hard to see that this man has been messed up by various experiments. He's like half cyborg, I think.

"…Yeah." Mike seems a little awkward. "So, err, what happened?"

"I was wearing this photostatic veil." I gesture at my face. "Melinda May burnt it into my face while I was pretending to be her."

"So that's why you look like her." Mike nods, understanding. "Well, at least she's pretty attractive." He tries to put a nice spin on it. "You could have been left as… Coulson?"

I raise an eyebrow at his attempt.

"What happened to you, then? If we're exchanging stories." I place the plank of wood I'm currently holding on the floor.

"I was involved in an explosion which stole my leg and burnt me up." Mike answers calmly. "HYDRA gave me some cybernetic prosthetics, and turned me into the latest in their 'Deathlok' programme."

"Tough break." I whistle lowly.

"I haven't seen my son, Ace, since. I didn't want him to see me like this." Mike continues, gesturing at himself. "You got any family?"

"Who knows?" I shrug. "I can't remember, you see."

"Are you going to try and find out if you have any family?" Mike asks next.

"What's the point?" I shrug again. "They probably already think I'm dead, after the whole fall of SHIELD thing."

"You should try!" Mike tells me. "Trust me, your family are thinking of you, and you can't keep them in suspense right now. You need to find them, and tell them you're alive. Before they lose hope."

"I'm never going to be able to really see them, though." I keep shrugging. "I'm a fugitive, remember? It's safer, and kinder, for us all if I remain ignorant to their existence."

* * *

**_Grant_**

"What's wrong between you and Kara?" I stand at the top of the small dip in the surroundings. Skye's at the bottom of this small slope, slowly breaking the tree in front of her to pieces, using nothing but her powers. She's gaining more and more control over them, I've noticed: maybe the fight at the HYDRA base helped her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replies calmly, keeping her arms stretched out in front of her.

"Skye, even Peterson's noticed something's up between you two. You haven't talked in days." I point out, starting down the slope until I'm at her shoulder. "So tell me what's up."

"Ask Kara." She says. It's not much, but at least it's confirmed that there is something up between them.

"I'm asking you." I stick to my ground. If Skye's clammed up, there's not a chance in hell that Kara's going to spill. She's just as stubborn as Skye, but I think I can get Skye to tell me, because Kara's at ease with me. Skye's still the newcomer, so maybe that can work in my advantage.

"Kara and I… disagreed." She says finally, still not divulging much as she continues to crush the tree to pieces. A huge branch falls down and crashes into the ground.

"Over what?"

"Something, okay?" Another branch falls but Skye crushes it before it can hit the ground, extending one hand towards it.

"You're getting better at that." I note. "Is Kara helping?"

"Kara seems to think that I have a double standard!" Skye snaps, as if I've just accused her of something. I blink at her.

"A double standard?" I recognise those words. Kara uses them when she talks about SHIELD and their treatment of me. A sinking feeling starts to develop inside my chest as I hope Skye's not about to say what I think she will.

"She thinks that I'm being too harsh on you, since I'm a murderer too." Skye says simply.

"How are you a murderer?" I frown. "Who did you kill?" When I was at SHIELD, Skye was adamant that she would never do that. So what changed?

"When I got my powers, I let out an earthquake that destroyed so many lives." She says in a whisper of a voice. "So, I murdered them."

"You didn't murder them, Skye." I tell her gently, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"I caused that earthquake!" She shakes my touch off.

"But you didn't kill them. The earthquake did." I correct again.

"But I caused the earthquake that killed them!" Skye seems very distraught.

"Don't listen to Kara." I lay my hand on her shoulder again. This time, she doesn't shake it off. "She's… a little close minded when it comes to me and SHIELD."

"I may have attacked her with my powers." She admits. I stop dead.

"What?"

"Kara hit me, so I… pushed her away with my powers." She explains, keeping her eyes off me. "I know, I shouldn't have! But she was getting angry, and so was I-"

"So that's why you're both bruised." I interrupt. A few days ago, when they came back from the woods bruised and dirty, Kara told me she fell, and Skye said her power training backfired a little. Clearly, they both are skilled liars.

"I'm sorry." She says. "I shouldn't have attacked her."

"It's not me you have to apologise to, Skye." I say. "It's Kara. But don't worry: she's got to apologise too."


	17. Chapter 17: Choice And Change

**Whoo! It's been a year since I uploaded _Anchor_! And this is a great chapter to upload on the anniversary, since it has something in it that 've been waiting since around chapter four to write!**

**Enjoy this chapter, and please tell me what you thought!**

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: CHOICE AND CHANGE**

_**Grant**_

"I feel so… domestic." Skye comments as she pushes the trolley cart around the place, with me chucking things in ever so often. It's supply run time again: Peterson's in the car, since he's a little noticeable, and Kara's scoping around the net in the internet café, since she didn't want to come shopping: ever since I made her apologise, she's been a little sulky.

"It's so weird, you know?" She continues. "You and me, just _shopping _together like we're ordinary people."

"It is weird." I agree. A small part of my mind wonders if this is how life could have been if I'd met Skye in a world without SHIELD. If we'd spend our days doing ordinary things like this.

"I want some chips." Skye announces, and I'm already shaking my head no. She pouts. "Aw, why not?"

"They're not really necessary, are they?" I point out, throwing a few canned foods in the cart.

"And they are?" Skye argues, a mischievous glint to her eyes.

"We have a camping stove thing." I say. "And canned food lasts longer than your junk food. Plus, if I buy you chips, I'll have to buy Kara something too."

"Can't you just buy them and… I'll eat them before we get back to Kara?" Skye blinks up at me, stepping closer. "The others will never have to know." She whispers.

"You and your junk food." I roll my eyes. Still, I end up giving in and allowing her one bag of chips. She smirks at me as I toss a Hello Kitty stuffed toy into the cart before going to check out.

"What? Kara likes them." I defend myself. Skye keeps smirking.

"You really care about her, then." She comments as we leave the shop. I nod. Skye's already moving to scoff her chips down before we reach Kara.

"Kara's come a long way since Puerto Rico." I tell her. "She's pretty independent now, considering the state Whitehall left her in."

"Was that difficult for you?" She glances at me. "Having to build her back up again?"

"It… was eye opening." I say slowly. "To see how reliant Kara had become on Whitehall. It reminded me of…"

"You and Garrett." Skye supplies. I nod.

"When you used to speak about how loyal you were to him… it was creepy to hear." Skye admits. "I still don't understand how you could give it all up for him."

"It was just what I was used to." I shrug. "Now I see that Garrett manipulated me, but I still wouldn't change my decision in that juvie hall. I'd still go with him."

"Why?" She asks me.

"It was, and is, the best choice I could have made in those circumstances. Otherwise, I would have been locked up for years, and when I finally emerged, I'd be a grown man with no clue about what's going on. It was frightening when I came out of the woods after five years and had no idea what was going on; I'd hate to have that feeling after more years." I answer her simply. "Now you answer me something. Why did you choose me to run to before?"

Skye freezes mid-bite.

"I.. why are you asking me that?"

"I want to know." I shrug. "I know what you said then, but I want you to tell me again."

"You were my only choice." She repeats what she said before. "And…" She hesitates. "I thought, since I was a freak now, that you'd accept me."

"Because I'm a freak?" A slight smile is on my lips.

"Well, yeah." She shrugs. "You have to admit, you're pretty freaky."

"Maybe." I keep smiling.

We sit down opposite Kara in the café, and she smiles at us, sipping on a can of coke.

"I got you something." I tell her, chucking the stuffed toy over at her. Kara squeals and grabs it, looking elated.

"Thanks, Grant!" She hugs it to her chest, and Skye smirks again, this time at Kara's reaction. She keeps hugging the toy to her with one arm as the other continues searching.

"To be honest, I've been trying to focus on HYDRA." Kara admits as her eyes peruse the screen in front of her. "Seeing if there's any mention of them in the news. Plus, it took me forever to get online." She rolls her eyes. "But so far, there's been no new news on HYDRA, so I think that's good. So they're not coming after us without finesse."

"So they'll sneak up on us? Reassuring, Kara." Skye rolls her eyes. You'd never know that these two were fighting the other day.

"I didn't think about it that way." Kara bites on her lower lip. "Oh."

"Don't worry about that, Kara." I tell her. "Anyway, is there any mention of SHIELD?"

"Well, that Morse woman's still making speeches in the news." Kara informs us. "About how SHIELD isn't a terrorist organisation and such. Crap like usual."

"Bobbi's not talking crap!" Skye retorts. "She's a nice person, Kara, and she's saying what SHIELD's really all about, okay?"

I sense a tension between Skye and Kara, and I step in quickly to make sure that it doesn't escalate further.

"Girls, how about we calm down?" I suggest hastily. "We all have different opinions, so why don't we all keep them to ourselves?"

"This Morse woman is full of it, though!" Kara refuses to let the matter drop. "Like everyone in SHIELD is. It's no longer the organisation it was: it's a place where Coulson can play pick and choose with people's _lives_."

"Coulson is a good man!" Skye argues. "You don't know him like I do."

"A good man, is he? Then why did you run from him, huh?" Kara laughs. "Face it, Skye: your precious SHIELD is corrupt to the core, and you can't _stand_ that."

"That's enough, Kara." I say in a quiet yet firm voice. "Leave your opinions alone, and let Skye believe what she wants."

Kara huffs, but she lets the matter die. Still the hostility is rich in the air, and I've got to monitor it. I can't have Skye and Kara fighting over every little thing. We'll all be driven apart if this continues.

I nudge Skye, giving her a pointed look before glancing at Kara, my meaning clear: make friends with her. Skye sighs, and I wonder when I become the one she was closer with over Kara.

"So Kara, why do you like Hello Kitty?" She attempts to make pleasant conversation. Kara barely glances up over the computer screen before I kick her underneath the table.

"I bought a hair tie with the cat on." Kara answers eventually. "When Grant and I were first running, when he was shot." She shoots Skye a glare. "So I got attached."

"Oh." The conversation has dried up quickly.

"Girls, I think the cabin's almost done." I try to make small talk. Reluctantly, I allowed Peterson to help me, even though it pained me to allow another man to touch my cabin: that thing was the only thing I've ever really created on my own, and it kind of feels like I'm betraying myself by allowing someone else to touch it.

"We've only got the roof left, really." When I'm met with no response, I try again. "So Peterson thinks we can use a tarpaulin to cover the gap for now, so tonight we can actually sleep in a cabin. Isn't that great?"

"Sure." Kara says distractedly. I frown: I was expecting her to be the most enthused about the cabin being finished, since she's the one who keeps complaining about being 'tent people'.

"It'll still be cold." I continue in my fruitless efforts. "And it's going to be a little weird to start with, and maybe a little cramped, but we'll probably extend it out again."

"So we're staying here." Skye states.

"For the time being, yes. I know it's dangerous sticking to one place for so long, but I don't think we have a choice. You need to practise your powers, and here is perfect for that. SHIELD and HYDRA are more likely to find us in the cities, and at least here we'll be able to fight without causing much civilian damage." I say. I've thought this through a lot, since it goes against my every nature to stick in a place like this for so long. You can take the man out of SHIELD, but you can't take the SHIELD out of a man, it seems. I'm a specialist through and through.

"SHIELD isn't a threat, Grant." Skye says quietly.

"You weren't saying that when we fought our way to safety back at the HYDRA base." My words are a low challenge. I'm not asking Skye to pick sides, but I can't have her being indecisive. If she wants to be loyal to SHIELD, that's fine, as long as she also knows that she can't just sell us out over it, because I'm sure Kara would try to kill her if she did that.

"They still aren't a threat." Skye persists. "They just don't understand, that's all."

"Skye, if you want to believe that, you can. But don't sit there and tell me that they 'don't understand'." I growl. "Because you haven't seen what SHIELD does to people. I have, I've experienced it. They – yes, your Coulson – have tortured people for information. They locked me in a dark cell for months without human stimuli, and then still expected me to retain my sanity? Asking to talk to you was my only chance at maybe remembering who I was before they locked me down there, something I told them many a time. But they didn't listen, so don't tell me that they don't understand, okay? Because if you'd been a threat, they would have treated you the same way now that you have powers."

It's silent for a moment, and Skye stares at me with wide eyes. Kara's fingers continue to fly over the keyboard.

"I've found something." Kara announces suddenly. Skye and I turn to look at her – somehow, I know that our discussion over SHIELD is far from over.

"What?" I clear my throat, focusing on Kara. She spins the laptop around to show an image of Skye's face.

"Morse just released this speech and article." Kara says grimly. "They're saying that Skye's a threat to herself, and if you see her, you need to call SHIELD."

"A threat to myself?" Skye stares at her now. "What?"

"Morse says that you're an agent of SHIELD who's been swayed by her recent circumstances, and that you desperately need SHIELD help." Kara explains. "So the public need to turn you in, but not approach you since you're a little unstable. I presume that's about your powers."

"The hunt for you has begun." I say grimly. Kara slurps on the rest of her coke.

"There goes our peaceful times. Yay." She says sarcastically.

Back at the cabin, we all sit inside it for the first time. But it's not cause for celebration, not with that article. We sit in grim silence, in a circle, all staring at each other.

"What does this mean?" Peterson is the first to speak, his voice gruff.

"If anyone who's seen that article sees me, they'll report me to SHIELD." Skye says tiredly. "And SHIELD will come get me, and index me, and outcast me because of my powers."

"Simple. You don't leave here." Kara says. "If you stay in the cabin, the risk is minimized."

"SHIELD will up the search for me too." I point out. "So we're fucked, basically."

"Then I'll be the one to go out." She decides bravely. "I'll camouflage the scar even more, and since I look like May, they can't me since people would see May and call her in."

"Eventually, they'll find us." I can't believe that this is happening. We're going to have to run again – but how am I meant to protect three people this time? Kara and I barely survived, and that was just the two of us.

"Stop being such a defeatist." Kara slaps my arm. "There's got to be a way out."

"There isn't." I tell her. "In SHIELD's eyes, we're the bad guys."

"Then we hit stores further afield. Come on Grant, this isn't the end for us!" Kara's the only one remaining positive now. The rest of us – we're already done. SHIELD or HYDRA: we're basically already theirs. What's the point in fighting them anymore? I've tried running before, and all that got me was four bullets to the chest. When I ran with Kara, we were nearly taken at least three times. I can't see the point in continuing on with this anymore. Why don't we just surrender to SHIELD? At least they'll be kinder than HYDRA, who would probably brainwash me into being their solider.

"We can't give up now!" Kara stares at us all with disbelief. "Mike?"

"I go where Skye goes, Kara. If she chooses SHIELD, I go with her." Mike tells Kara gently.

"Skye?" Kara turns to her.

"SHIELD will find me wherever I go." Skye shakes her head. "But I don't want to go back. So, let's make a plan. We can't give up now."

Kara grins.

"Alright! So, in order to get supplies: that's easy, we'll just drive further away. And what if you put out a secondary notice, declaring that you've been sighted in a different country? That would distract SHIELD for a while, and it wouldn't endanger them or discredit them." Kara thinks on her feet.

"I can do that." Skye nods. "We'll have to drive to a different internet café though."

It occurs to me that we got lazy in this time. If Garrett was here, he'd slap me over the head for it. But since he's not, I've got to motivate myself. I shake myself off, and push my defeatist thoughts to one side. I don't want to go back to Vault D, so I'll do anything to keep myself from there.

"There's always cutting your hair, or dyeing it." I suggest, joining to conversation. "That would through people off the scent."

Skye grabs at her hair possessively.

"But… I don't want to!" She whines. "I like my long hair!"

"Skye, we all have to sacrifice things." I remind her. Skye's fingers refuse to leave her hair.

"…Maybe. Let me think about it." She says reluctantly.

Then a noise shatters our positivity. We all stiffen as a small knock hits on the door, and slowly we all turn to stare.

"Aw, shit." Mike mutters.

The knock comes again, and I regulate my breathing, not wanting to make a sound. Who is it? HYDRA? They wouldn't knock. SHIELD? Who knows, Coulson is a little quirky.

My hand reaches for my gun, and I motion that Mike should open the door as I climb to my feet. Skye's already got her hand extended, just in case. I aim the gun, resting my finger on the trigger as Mike creeps to the door. He glances back at us before his hand tightens on the handle. Then he opens the door, and I get ready to fight.

Mike stops still, and I frown. What's going on?

Slowly, he steps back from the door, his hand wrapped around someone's arm. A loudly protesting someone's arm, in a thick Scottish brogue.

"Hey, get your grubby mitt off me!" Leo Fitz protests. "Don't you remember me? I'm Fitz. I'm one of the good guys, Mike!"

Fitz trails off as his eyes alight on me, and fear fills his pupils. I'm frozen completely still, staring at the man who I chucked into the ocean.

"Fitz!" Skye's voice destroys the tenseness as she leaps forward, grabbing the Scot into her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you!" He retorts. "Things are getting a little hectic back at the base after you dobbed me in for helping you – thanks for that, by the way."

"Sorry." Skye looks bashful.

"Anyway, then this guy Gonzales – you won't know him, he's part of this 'Real SHIELD' stuff – well, he says that we have to kill you! And Bobbi, she's on his side! And Mack!" Fitz continues. "So I escaped, and tracked you via the chip I put in your laptop, so we should probably get you a new one. I mean, I doubt anyone else can get it, but just to make sure, you know? Anyway, I saw you drive off into the woods back in that quaint town, so I walked here, following your tracks. I got lost about five bloody times!"

"Fitz, I'm so happy to see you." Skye bubbles.

"That's good, you see." Fitz is nervous. "See, now I'm sort of a fugitive, so I was hoping you'd let me crash with you guys a little bit?"

"Of course-" Skye starts.

"Hang on a sec." Kara interrupts. "How can we trust this SHIELD guy? He could be a double agent!"

"Fitz isn't the right guy for that, Kara." I instinctively stick up for the younger man. "I think we can trust him."

Fitz seems surprised that I'm vouching for him.

"I don't like it. He manages to track us here? It's all a little suspicious if you ask me." Kara shakes her head.

Fitz peers at her.

"Hey, you're Agent 33, right? The photostatic veil woman?" He asks, stepping forward nervously.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kara's defensive.

"I'm an engineer, and I'm sure with a little time I could help you fix that, you know." He offers, dumping the large bag he has over his shoulder on the floor. "Like, I could maybe make it work properly, so you could switch faces? I'd have to study it more."

"You… You could do that?" Kara seems tempted, but why shouldn't she? She hates looking like May.

"I think so, yeah." Fitz nods.

"And you want to stay with us? Even though Grant's here?" Skye checks. Fitz gives her a look.

"When did you start calling Ward 'Grant'?" He asks. Skye freezes.

"I go by Grant more typically now, you know." I shrug, speaking to Fitz for the first time since he cut off my oxygen in Vault D. "Ward is who I was at SHIELD, so I prefer to use my actual name now."

"…" Fitz seems lost for words, overwhelmed perhaps. I'm nervous around him my skin jumping. All of a sudden, this cabin seems too small. I want to leave it, stay out in the cold night air, but I refuse to allow that weakness to overcome me. Instead, I clench my hands into fists.

"Of course you can stay, Fitz." Skye wraps him in another hug. "Come over here, tell me about what's been happening since I left SHIELD." She pulls him to one side. Kara comes to stand next to me.

"You trust him?" She asks.

"Maybe." I allow. "I don't think he'll grass us up to SHIELD, but if he can fix your mask…"

"Then I can change how I look, and we can get supplies freely." Kara finishes my sentences. "If you'd like, I'll bond with him to keep an eye on him, since I don't think you two can be friendly. Not since you pushed him into the ocean."

"You do that." I nod. "And then we'll see if Fitz is telling the truth."


End file.
